12 Questions
What is the primary characteristic of Cassandra, a NoSQL database, that provides both technical and business advantages?
Its distributed architecture
What is a major limitation of traditional SQL databases that Cassandra and other NoSQL databases have addressed?
Limited scalability
What is the primary reason why Cassandra is well-suited for handling Big Data?
Its ability to scale rapidly and handle high-volume data
What is the benefit of running Cassandra on multiple machines?
It allows for easy scalability and prevents data loss from hardware failure
What is the main advantage of Cassandra's flexible approach to schema definition?
It allows for rapid, ad-hoc organization and analysis of data
What is the primary reason why running Cassandra on a single node is not recommended?
It does not provide the maximum benefit of Cassandra
What is a node in Cassandra?
A single instance of Cassandra
What is the main advantage of Cassandra's architecture?
Linear scalability and resilience
How does Cassandra distribute data among nodes?
Based on hash function and partition key
What is the role of the coordinator in Cassandra?
Assigning data to a specific node
What is the purpose of gossip in Cassandra?
To communicate between nodes
What happens when you need to increase Cassandra's capacity?
You need to add more nodes to the cluster
Study Notes
Cassandra and NoSQL Databases
- NoSQL databases are lightweight, open-source, non-relational, and distributed, featuring horizontal scalability, flexible schema definition, and rapid ad-hoc data organization and analysis.
- Cassandra is a NoSQL distributed database, addressing the constraints of traditional data management technologies, such as SQL databases.
Distributed Architecture
- Cassandra's distributed architecture enables easy scaling, prevents data loss from hardware failure, and provides technical power.
- Distributed means running on multiple machines, appearing as a unified whole to users.
- Running Cassandra on multiple machines is essential to get the maximum benefit, with each node representing a single instance of Cassandra.
Node Communication and Architecture
- Nodes communicate with each other through the gossip protocol, a process of computer peer-to-peer communication.
- Cassandra has a masterless architecture, where any node can provide the same functionality as any other node, contributing to its robustness and resilience.
Clustering and Datacenters
- Multiple nodes can be organized into a cluster, or "ring", with the possibility of having multiple datacenters.
- Clustering allows for dynamic scaling, using off-the-shelf hardware, with no downtime.
Scalability and Performance
- Cassandra enables developers to scale their databases dynamically, using commodity hardware, with no downtime.
- Horizontal scalability (scale-out) allows for easy increase in data management capacity, simply by adding more nodes.
- Linear scalability applies indefinitely, with the flexibility to scale back if needed.
Data Distribution and Partitioning
- Data is automatically distributed across the cluster, with positive performance consequences.
- Cassandra distributes data using partitions, with each node owning a particular set of tokens.
- The partition key determines data locality, with a hash function applied to the partition key to determine the node responsible for storing the data.
Learn about Cassandra, a NoSQL distributed database that offers horizontal scalability, flexible schema definition, and rapid data analysis. Discover its strengths and importance in the era of Big Data.
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