Briefly, this error occurs when the time unit is not specified in the Elasticsearch cluster settings. Elasticsearch assumes milliseconds (ms) as the default unit, but future versions will require explicit unit specification. To resolve this, you should specify the time unit when setting the time value. For example, instead of “5”, use “5ms” for milliseconds, “5s” for seconds, “5m” for minutes, etc. This will ensure compatibility with future versions of Elasticsearch.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” time cluster setting [{}] with value [{}] is missing units; assuming default units (ms) but in future versions this will be a hard error ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: cluster and metadata.
Overview
Metadata in Elasticsearch refers to additional information stored for each document. This is achieved using the specific metadata fields available in Elasticsearch. The default behavior of some of these metadata fields can be customized during mapping creation.
Examples
Using _meta meta-field for storing application-specific information with the mapping:
PUT /my_index?pretty
{
"mappings": {
"_meta": {
"domain": "security",
"release_information": {
"date": "18-01-2020",
"version": "7.5"
}
}
}
}Notes
- In version 2.x, Elasticsearch had a total 13 meta fields available, which are: _index, _uid, _type, _id, _source, _size, _all, _field_names, _timestamp, _ttl, _parent, _routing, _meta
- In version 5.x, _timestamp and _ttl meta fields were removed.
- In version 6.x, the _parent meta field was removed.
- In version 7.x, _uid and _all meta fields were removed.
Log Context
Log “time cluster setting [{}] with value [{}] is missing units; assuming default units (ms) but in future versions this will be a hard error” classname is MetaData.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
Long.parseLong(settingValue);
} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
continue;
}
// It's a naked number that previously would be interpreted as default unit (ms); now we add it:
logger.warn("time cluster setting [{}] with value [{}] is missing units; assuming default units (ms) but in future versions this will be a hard error"; settingName; settingValue);
if (newPersistentSettings == null) {
newPersistentSettings = Settings.builder();
newPersistentSettings.put(metaData.persistentSettings());
}
newPersistentSettings.put(settingName; settingValue + "ms");
