Keeping Deleted Cells

By default, delete markers extend back to the beginning of time. Therefore, Get or Scan operations will not see a deleted cell (row or column), even when the Get or Scan operation indicates a time range before the delete marker was placed.

ColumnFamilies can optionally keep deleted cells. In this case, deleted cells can still be retrieved, as long as these operations specify a time range that ends before the timestamp of any delete that would affect the cells. This allows for point-in-time queries even in the presence of deletes.

Deleted cells are still subject to TTL and there will never be more than “maximum number of versions” deleted cells. A new “raw” scan options returns all deleted rows and the delete markers.
Change the Value of KEEP_DELETED_CELLS Using HBase Shell

hbase> hbase> alter ‘t1′, NAME => ‘f1′, KEEP_DELETED_CELLS => true

Example 13. Change the Value of KEEP_DELETED_CELLS Using the API

…
HColumnDescriptor.setKeepDeletedCells(true);
…

Let us illustrate the basic effect of setting the KEEP_DELETED_CELLS attribute on a table.

First, without:

create ‘test’, {NAME=>‘e’, VERSIONS=>2147483647}
put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 10
put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 12
put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 14
delete ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, 11

hbase(main):017:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=11, type=DeleteColumn
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=10, value=value
1 row(s) in 0.0120 seconds

hbase(main):018:0> flush ‘test’
0 row(s) in 0.0350 seconds

hbase(main):019:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=11, type=DeleteColumn
1 row(s) in 0.0120 seconds

hbase(main):020:0> major_compact ‘test’
0 row(s) in 0.0260 seconds

hbase(main):021:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
1 row(s) in 0.0120 seconds

Notice how delete cells are let go.

Now let’s run the same test only with KEEP_DELETED_CELLS set on the table (you can do table or per-column-family):

hbase(main):005:0> create ‘test’, {NAME=>‘e’, VERSIONS=>2147483647, KEEP_DELETED_CELLS => true}
0 row(s) in 0.2160 seconds

=> Hbase::Table - test
hbase(main):006:0> put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 10
0 row(s) in 0.1070 seconds

hbase(main):007:0> put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 12
0 row(s) in 0.0140 seconds

hbase(main):008:0> put ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, ‘value’, 14
0 row(s) in 0.0160 seconds

hbase(main):009:0> delete ‘test’, ‘r1’, ‘e:c1’, 11
0 row(s) in 0.0290 seconds

hbase(main):010:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=11, type=DeleteColumn
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=10, value=value
1 row(s) in 0.0550 seconds

hbase(main):011:0> flush ‘test’
0 row(s) in 0.2780 seconds

hbase(main):012:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=11, type=DeleteColumn
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=10, value=value
1 row(s) in 0.0620 seconds

hbase(main):013:0> major_compact ‘test’
0 row(s) in 0.0530 seconds

hbase(main):014:0> scan ‘test’, {RAW=>true, VERSIONS=>1000}
ROW COLUMN+CELL
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=14, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=12, value=value
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=11, type=DeleteColumn
r1 column=e:c1, timestamp=10, value=value
1 row(s) in 0.0650 seconds

KEEP_DELETED_CELLS is to avoid removing Cells from HBase when the only reason to remove them is the delete marker. So with KEEP_DELETED_CELLS enabled deleted cells would get removed if either you write more versions than the configured max, or you have a TTL and Cells are in excess of the configured timeout, etc.