The cassandra.yaml configuration file

The cassandra.yaml file is the main configuration file for Cassandra.

The configuration properties are grouped into the following sections:

• Quick start

  The minimal properties needed for configuring a cluster.

• Commonly used

  Properties most frequently used when configuring Cassandra.

• Performance tuning

  Tuning performance and system resource utilization, including commit log, compaction, memory, disk I/O, CPU, reads, and writes.

• Advanced

  Properties for advanced users or properties that are less commonly used.

• Security

  Server and client security settings.

Quick start properties 

The minimal properties needed for configuring a cluster.

Related information: Initializing a multiple node cluster (single data center) and Initializing a multiple node cluster (multiple data centers).

cluster_name

(Default: Test Cluster) The name of the cluster. This setting prevents nodes in one logical cluster from joining another. All nodes in a cluster must have the same value.

listen_address

(Default: localhost) The IP address or hostname that Cassandra binds to for connecting to other Cassandra nodes. Set this parameter or listen_interface, not both. You must change the default setting for multiple nodes to communicate:

• Generally set to empty. If the node is properly configured (host name, name resolution, and so on), Cassandra uses InetAddress.getLocalHost() to get the local address from the system.
• For a single node cluster, you can use the default setting (localhost).
• If Cassandra can't find the correct address, you must specify the IP address or host name.
• Never specify 0.0.0.0; it is always wrong.

listen_interface

(Default: eth0)^note The interface that Cassandra binds to for connecting to other Cassandra nodes. Interfaces must correspond to a single address, IP aliasing is not supported. See listen_address.

listen_interface_prefer_ipv6

(Default: false) By default, if an interface has an ipv4 and an ipv6 address, the first ipv4 address will be used. If set to true, the first ipv6 address will be used.

Default directories

If you have changed any of the default directories during installation, make sure you have root access and set these properties:

commitlog_directory

The directory where the commit log is stored. Default locations:

• Package installations: /var/lib/cassandra/commitlog
• Tarball installations: install_location/data/commitlog
• Windows installations: C:\Program Files\DataStax Community\data\commitlog

For optimal write performance, place the commit log be on a separate disk partition, or (ideally) a separate physical device from the data file directories. Because the commit log is append only, an HDD is acceptable for this purpose.

data_file_directories

The directory location where table data (SSTables) is stored. Cassandra distributes data evenly across the location, subject to the granularity of the configured compaction strategy. Default locations:

• Package installations: /var/lib/cassandra/data
• Tarball installations: install_location/data/data
• Windows installations: C:\Program Files\DataStax Community\data\data

As a production best practice, use RAID 0 and SSDs.

saved_caches_directory

The directory location where table key and row caches are stored. Default location:

• Package installations: /var/lib/cassandra/saved_caches
• Tarball installations: install_location/data/saved_caches
• Windows installations: C:\Program Files\DataStax Community\data\saved_caches

Commonly used properties 

Properties most frequently used when configuring Cassandra.

Before starting a node for the first time, you should carefully evaluate your requirements.

Common initialization properties

commit_failure_policy

(Default: stop) Policy for commit disk failures:

• die

  Shut down gossip and Thrift and kill the JVM, so the node can be replaced.

• stop

  Shut down gossip and Thrift, leaving the node effectively dead, but can be inspected using JMX.

• stop_commit

  Shut down the commit log, letting writes collect but continuing to service reads (as in pre-2.0.5 Cassandra).

• ignore

  Ignore fatal errors and let the batches fail.

disk_failure_policy

(Default: stop) Sets how Cassandra responds to disk failure. Recommend settings are stop or best_effort.

• die

  Shut down gossip and Thrift and kill the JVM for any file system errors or single SSTable errors, so the node can be replaced.

• stop_paranoid

  Shut down gossip and Thrift even for single SSTable errors.

• stop

  Shut down gossip and Thrift, leaving the node effectively dead, but available for inspection using JMX.

• best_effort

  Stop using the failed disk and respond to requests based on the remaining available SSTables. This means you will see obsolete data at consistency level of ONE.

• ignore

  Ignores fatal errors and lets the requests fail; all file system errors are logged but otherwise ignored. Cassandra acts as in versions prior to 1.2.

Related information: Handling Disk Failures In Cassandra 1.2 blog and Recovering from a single disk failure using JBOD.

endpoint_snitch

(Default: org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleSnitch) Set to a class that implements the IEndpointSnitch. Cassandra uses snitches for locating nodes and routing requests.

• SimpleSnitch

  Use for single-data center deployments or single-zone in public clouds. Does not recognize data center or rack information. It treats strategy order as proximity, which can improve cache locality when disabling read repair.

• GossipingPropertyFileSnitch

  Recommended for production. The rack and data center for the local node are defined in the cassandra-rackdc.properties file and propagated to other nodes via gossip. To allow migration from the PropertyFileSnitch, it uses the cassandra-topology.properties file if it is present.

  The location of the cassandra-rackdc.properties file depends on the type of installation:

  Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cassandra-rackdc.properties
  Tarball installations	install_location/conf/cassandra-rackdc.properties
  Windows installations	C:\Program Files\DataStax Community\apache-cassandra\conf\cassandra-rackdc.properties

  The location of the cassandra-topology.properties file depends on the type of installation:

  Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cassandra-topology.properties
  Tarball installations	install_location/conf/cassandra-topology.properties
  Windows installations	C:\Program Files\DataStax Community\apache-cassandra\conf\cassandra-topology.properties

• PropertyFileSnitch

  Determines proximity by rack and data center, which are explicitly configured in the cassandra-topology.properties file.

• Ec2Snitch

  For EC2 deployments in a single region. Loads region and availability zone information from the EC2 API. The region is treated as the data center and the availability zone as the rack. Uses only private IPs. Subsequently it does not work across multiple regions.

• Ec2MultiRegionSnitch

  Uses public IPs as the broadcast_address to allow cross-region connectivity. This means you must also set seed addresses to the public IP and open the storage_port or ssl_storage_port on the public IP firewall. For intra-region traffic, Cassandra switches to the private IP after establishing a connection.

• RackInferringSnitch:

  Proximity is determined by rack and data center, which are assumed to correspond to the 3rd and 2nd octet of each node's IP address, respectively. This snitch is best used as an example for writing a custom snitch class (unless this happens to match your deployment conventions).

Related information: Snitches

rpc_address

(Default: localhost) The listen address for client connections (Thrift RPC service and native transport).Valid values are:

• unset:

  Resolves the address using the hostname configuration of the node. If left unset, the hostname must resolve to the IP address of this node using /etc/hostname, /etc/hosts, or DNS.

• 0.0.0.0:

  Listens on all configured interfaces, but you must set the broadcast_rpc_address to a value other than 0.0.0.0.

• IP address
• hostname

Related information: Network

rpc_interface

(Default: eth1)^note The listen address for client connections. Interfaces must correspond to a single address, IP aliasing is not supported. See rpc_address.

rpc_interface_prefer_ipv6

(Default: false) By default, if an interface has an ipv4 and an ipv6 address, the first ipv4 address will be used. If set to true, the first ipv6 address will be used.

seed_provider

The addresses of hosts deemed contact points. Cassandra nodes use the -seeds list to find each other and learn the topology of the ring.

• class_name (Default: org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleSeedProvider)

  The class within Cassandra that handles the seed logic. It can be customized, but this is typically not required.

• - seeds (Default: 127.0.0.1)

  A comma-delimited list of IP addresses used by gossip for bootstrapping new nodes joining a cluster. When running multiple nodes, you must change the list from the default value. In multiple data-center clusters, the seed list should include at least one node from each data center (replication group). More than a single seed node per data center is recommended for fault tolerance. Otherwise, gossip has to communicate with another data center when bootstrapping a node. Making every node a seed node is not recommended because of increased maintenance and reduced gossip performance. Gossip optimization is not critical, but it is recommended to use a small seed list (approximately three nodes per data center).

Related information: Initializing a multiple node cluster (single data center) and Initializing a multiple node cluster (multiple data centers).

enable_user_defined_functions

(Default: false) In Cassandra 3.0 and later, user defined functions (UDFs) are disabled by default. UDFs are sandboxed to prevent execution of evil code. If you wish to use UDFs, change to true.

Common compaction settings

compaction_throughput_mb_per_sec

(Default: 16) Throttles compaction to the specified total throughput across the instance. The faster you insert data, the faster you need to compact in order to keep the SSTable count down. The recommended value is 16 to 32 times the rate of write throughput (in MB/second). Setting the value to 0 disables compaction throttling.

Related information: Configuring compaction

compaction_large_partition_warning_threshold_mb

(Default: 100) Logs a warning when compaction partitions larger than the set value.

Common memtable settings

memtable_total_space_in_mb

(Default: 1/4 of heap)^note Specifies the total memory used for all memtables on a node. This replaces the per-table storage settings memtable_operations_in_millions and memtable_throughput_in_mb.

Related information: Tuning the Java heap

Common disk settings

concurrent_reads

(Default: 32)^note For workloads with more data than can fit in memory, the bottleneck is reads fetching data from disk. Setting to (16 × number_of_drives) allows operations to queue low enough in the stack so that the OS and drives can reorder them. The default setting applies to both logical volume managed (LVM) and RAID drives.

concurrent_writes

(Default: 32)^note Writes in Cassandra are rarely I/O bound, so the ideal number of concurrent writes depends on the number of CPU cores in your system. The recommended value is 8 × number_of_cpu_cores.

concurrent_counter_writes

(Default: 32)^note Counter writes read the current values before incrementing and writing them back. The recommended value is (16 × number_of_drives) .

Common automatic backup settings

incremental_backups

(Default: false) Backs up data updated since the last snapshot was taken. When enabled, Cassandra creates a hard link to each SSTable flushed or streamed locally in a backups/ subdirectory of the keyspace data. Removing these links is the operator's responsibility.

Related information: Enabling incremental backups

snapshot_before_compaction

(Default: false) Enable or disable taking a snapshot before each compaction. This option is useful to back up data when there is a data format change. Be careful using this option because Cassandra does not clean up older snapshots automatically.

Related information: Configuring compaction

Common fault detection setting

phi_convict_threshold

(Default: 8)^note Adjusts the sensitivity of the failure detector on an exponential scale. Generally this setting never needs adjusting.

Related information: Failure detection and recovery

Performance tuning properties 

Tuning performance and system resource utilization, including commit log, compaction, memory, disk I/O, CPU, reads, and writes.

Commit log settings

commitlog_sync

(Default: periodic) The method that Cassandra uses to acknowledge writes in milliseconds:

• periodic: (Default: 10000 milliseconds [10 seconds])

  Used with commitlog_sync_period_in_ms to control how often the commit log is synchronized to disk. Periodic syncs are acknowledged immediately.

• batch: (Default: disabled)^note

  Used with commitlog_sync_batch_window_in_ms (Default: 2 ms) to control how long Cassandra waits for other writes before performing a sync. When using this method, writes are not acknowledged until fsynced to disk.

commitlog_segment_size_in_mb

(Default: 32MB) Sets the size of the individual commitlog file segments. A commitlog segment may be archived, deleted, or recycled after all its data has been flushed to SSTables. This amount of data can potentially include commitlog segments from every table in the system. The default size is usually suitable for most commitlog archiving, but if you want a finer granularity, 8 or 16 MB is reasonable.

This property determines the maximum mutation size, defined as half the segment size. If a mutation's size exceeds the maximum mutation size, the mutation is rejected. Before increasing the commitlog segment size of the commitlog segments, investigate why the mutations are larger than expected. Look for underlying issues with access patterns and data model, because increasing the commitlog segment size is a limited fix.

Related information: Commit log archive configuration

commitlog_compression

(Default: not enabled) Sets the compressor to use if commit log is compressed. Options are: LZ4, Snappy or Deflate. The commit log is written uncompressed if a compressor option is not set.

commitlog_total_space_in_mb

(Default: 32MB for 32-bit JVMs, 8192MB for 64-bit JVMs)^note Total space used for commit logs. If the used space goes above this value, Cassandra rounds up to the next nearest segment multiple and flushes memtables to disk for the oldest commitlog segments, removing those log segments. This reduces the amount of data to replay on start-up, and prevents infrequently-updated tables from indefinitely keeping commitlog segments. A small total commitlog space tends to cause more flush activity on less-active tables.

Related information: Configuring memtable throughput

Compaction settings

Related information: Configuring compaction

concurrent_compactors

(Default: Smaller of number of disks or number of cores, with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 per CPU core)^note Sets the number of concurrent compaction processes allowed to run simultaneously on a node, not including validation compactions for anti-entropy repair. Simultaneous compactions help preserve read performance in a mixed read-write workload by mitigating the tendency of small SSTables to accumulate during a single long-running compaction. If your data directories are backed by SSD, increase this value to the number of cores. If compaction running too slowly or too fast, adjust compaction_throughput_mb_per_sec first.

Note: Increasing concurrent compactors impacts the available disk storage because concurrent compactions happen in parallel, especially for STCS. Ensure that adequate disk space is available when increasing this configuration.

sstable_preemptive_open_interval_in_mb

(Default: 50MB) When compacting, the replacement opens SSTables before they are completely written and uses in place of the prior SSTables for any range previously written. This setting helps to smoothly transfer reads between the SSTables by reducing page cache churn and keeps hot rows hot.

Memtable settings

memtable_allocation_type

(Default: heap_buffers) Specify the way Cassandra allocates and manages memtable memory. See Off-heap memtables in Cassandra 2.1. Options are:

• heap_buffers

  On heap NIO (non-blocking I/O) buffers.

• offheap_buffers

  Off heap (direct) NIO buffers.

• offheap_objects

  Native memory, eliminating NIO buffer heap overhead.

memtable_cleanup_threshold

(Default: 0.11 1/(memtable_flush_writers + 1))^note Ratio of occupied non-flushing memtable size to total permitted size for triggering a flush of the largest memtable. Larger values mean larger flushes and less compaction, but also less concurrent flush activity, which can make it difficult to keep your disks saturated under heavy write load.

file_cache_size_in_mb

(Default: Smaller of 1/4 heap or 512) Total memory to use for SSTable-reading buffers.

memtable_flush_writers

(Default: Smaller of number of disks or number of cores with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8)^note Sets the number of memtable flush writer threads. These threads are blocked by disk I/O, and each one holds a memtable in memory while blocked. If your data directories are backed by SSD, increase this setting to the number of cores.

memtable_heap_space_in_mb

(Default: 1/4 heap)^note Total permitted memory to use for memtables. Triggers a flush based on memtable_cleanup_threshold. Cassandra stops accepting writes when the limit is exceeded until a flush completes. If unset, sets to default.

Related information: Flushing data from the memtable

memtable_offheap_space_in_mb

(Default: 1/4 heap)^note See memtable_heap_space_in_mb.

Related information: Flushing data from the memtable

Cache and index settings

column_index_size_in_kb

(Default: 64) Granularity of the index of rows within a partition. For huge rows, decrease this setting to improve seek time. If you use key cache, be careful not to make this setting too large because key cache will be overwhelmed. If you're unsure of the size of the rows, it's best to use the default setting.

index_summary_capacity_in_mb

(Default: 5% of the heap size [empty])^note Fixed memory pool size in MB for SSTable index summaries. If the memory usage of all index summaries exceeds this limit, any SSTables with low read rates shrink their index summaries to meet this limit. This is a best-effort process. In extreme conditions, Cassandra may need to use more than this amount of memory.

index_summary_resize_interval_in_minutes

(Default: 60 minutes) How frequently index summaries should be re-sampled. This is done periodically to redistribute memory from the fixed-size pool to SSTables proportional their recent read rates. To disable, set to -1. This leaves existing index summaries at their current sampling level.

Disks settings

stream_throughput_outbound_megabits_per_sec

(Default: 200 seconds)^note Throttles all outbound streaming file transfers on a node to the specified throughput. Cassandra does mostly sequential I/O when streaming data during bootstrap or repair, which can lead to saturating the network connection and degrading client (RPC) performance.

inter_dc_stream_throughput_outbound_megabits_per_sec

(Default: unset)^note Throttles all streaming file transfer between the data centers. This setting allows throttles streaming throughput betweens data centers in addition to throttling all network stream traffic as configured with stream_throughput_outbound_megabits_per_sec.

trickle_fsync

(Default: false) When doing sequential writing, enabling this option tells fsync to force the operating system to flush the dirty buffers at a set interval trickle_fsync_interval_in_kb. Enable this parameter to avoid sudden dirty buffer flushing from impacting read latencies. Recommended to use on SSDs, but not on HDDs.

trickle_fsync_interval_in_kb

(Default: 10240). Sets the size of the fsync in kilobytes.

windows_timer_interval

(Default: 1) The default Windows kernel timer and scheduling resolution is 15.6ms for power conservation. Lowering this value on Windows can provide much tighter latency and better throughput. However, some virtualized environments may see a negative performance impact from changing this setting below the system default. The sysinternals 'clockres' tool can confirm your system's default setting.

Advanced properties 

Properties for advanced users or properties that are less commonly used.

Advanced initialization properties

auto_bootstrap

(Default: true) This setting has been removed from default configuration. It makes new (non-seed) nodes automatically migrate the right data to themselves. When initializing a fresh cluster without data, add auto_bootstrap: false.

Related information: Initializing a multiple node cluster (single data center) and Initializing a multiple node cluster (multiple data centers).

batch_size_warn_threshold_in_kb

(Default: 5KB per batch) Log WARN on any batch size exceeding this value in kilobytes. Caution should be taken on increasing the size of this threshold as it can lead to node instability.

batch_size_fail_threshold_in_kb

(Default: 50KB per batch) Fail any batch exceeding this setting. The default value is 10X the value of batch_size_warn_threshold_in_kb.

broadcast_address

(Default: listen_address)^note The IP address a node tells other nodes in the cluster to contact it by. It allows public and private address to be different. For example, use the broadcast_address parameter in topologies where not all nodes have access to other nodes by their private IP addresses.

If your Cassandra cluster is deployed across multiple Amazon EC2 regions and you use the Ec2MultiRegionSnitch, set the broadcast_address to public IP address of the node and the listen_address to the private IP.

initial_token

(Default: disabled) Used in the single-node-per-token architecture, where a node owns exactly one contiguous range in the ring space. Setting this property overrides num_tokens.

If you not using vnodes or have num_tokens set it to 1 or unspecified (#num_tokens), you should always specify this parameter when setting up a production cluster for the first time and when adding capacity. For more information, see this parameter in the Cassandra 1.1 Node and Cluster Configuration documentation.

This parameter can be used with num_tokens (vnodes ) in special cases such as Restoring from a snapshot.

num_tokens

(Default: 256) ^note Defines the number of tokens randomly assigned to this node on the ring when using virtual nodes (vnodes). The more tokens, relative to other nodes, the larger the proportion of data that the node stores. Generally all nodes should have the same number of tokens assuming equal hardware capability. The recommended value is 256. If unspecified (#num_tokens), Cassandra uses 1 (equivalent to #num_tokens : 1) for legacy compatibility and uses the initial_token setting.

If not using vnodes, comment #num_tokens : 256 or set num_tokens : 1 and use initial_token. If you already have an existing cluster with one token per node and wish to migrate to vnodes, see Enabling virtual nodes on an existing production cluster.

Note: If using DataStax Enterprise, the default setting of this property depends on the type of node and type of install.

partitioner

(Default: org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner) Distributes rows (by partition key) across all nodes in the cluster. Any IPartitioner may be used, including your own as long as it is in the class path. For new clusters use the default partitioner.

Cassandra provides the following partitioners for backwards compatibility:

• RandomPartitioner
• ByteOrderedPartitioner (deprecated)
• OrderPreservingPartitioner (deprecated)

Related information: Partitioners

storage_port

(Default: 7000) The port for inter-node communication.

tracetype_query_ttl

(Default: 86400) TTL for different trace types used during logging of the repair process

tracetype_repair_ttl

(Default: 604800) TTL for different trace types used during logging of the repair process.

Advanced automatic backup setting

auto_snapshot

(Default: true) Enable or disable whether a snapshot is taken of the data before keyspace truncation or dropping of tables. To prevent data loss, using the default setting is strongly advised. If you set to false, you will lose data on truncation or drop.

Key caches and global row properties

When creating or modifying tables, you enable or disable the key cache (partition key cache) or row cache for that table by setting the caching parameter. Other row and key cache tuning and configuration options are set at the global (node) level. Cassandra uses these settings to automatically distribute memory for each table on the node based on the overall workload and specific table usage. You can also configure the save periods for these caches globally.

Related information: Configuring caches

key_cache_keys_to_save

(Default: disabled - all keys are saved)^note Number of keys from the key cache to save.

key_cache_save_period

(Default: 14400 seconds [4 hours]) Duration in seconds that keys are saved in cache. Caches are saved to saved_caches_directory. Saved caches greatly improve cold-start speeds and has relatively little effect on I/O.

key_cache_size_in_mb

(Default: empty) A global cache setting for tables. It is the maximum size of the key cache in memory. When no value is set, the cache is set to the smaller of 5% of the available heap, or 100MB. To disable set to 0.

Related information: setcachecapacity.

row_cache_class_name

(Default: disabled - row cache is not enabled)^note Specify which row cache provider to use, OHCProvider or SerializingCacheProvider. OHCProvider is fully off-heap, SerializingCacheProvider is partially off-heap.

row_cache_keys_to_save

(Default: disabled - all keys are saved)^note Number of keys from the row cache to save.

row_cache_size_in_mb

(Default: 0- disabled) Maximum size of the row cache in memory. Row cache can save more time than key_cache_size_in_mb, but is space-intensive because it contains the entire row. Use the row cache only for hot rows or static rows. If you reduce the size, you may not get you hottest keys loaded on start up.

row_cache_save_period

(Default: 0- disabled) Duration in seconds that rows are saved in cache. Caches are saved to saved_caches_directory. This setting has limited use as described in row_cache_size_in_mb.

memory_allocator

(Default: NativeAllocator) The off-heap memory allocator. In addition to caches, this property affects storage engine meta data. Supported values:

• NativeAllocator
• JEMallocAllocator

  Experiments show that jemalloc saves some memory compared to the native allocator because it is more fragmentation resistant. To use, install jemalloc as a library and modify cassandra-env.ps1.

CAUTION:

JEMalloc version 3.6.0 or later should be used with option. Known errors occur with earlier versions.

Counter caches properties

Counter cache helps to reduce counter locks' contention for hot counter cells. In case of RF = 1 a counter cache hit will cause Cassandra to skip the read before write entirely. With RF > 1 a counter cache hit will still help to reduce the duration of the lock hold, helping with hot counter cell updates, but will not allow skipping the read entirely. Only the local (clock, count) tuple of a counter cell is kept in memory, not the whole counter, so it's relatively cheap.

counter_cache_size_in_mb

(Default value: empty)^note When no value is specified a minimum of 2.5% of Heap or 50MB. If you perform counter deletes and rely on low gc_grace_seconds, you should disable the counter cache. To disable, set to 0.

counter_cache_save_period

(Default: 7200 seconds [2 hours]) Duration after which Cassandra should save the counter cache (keys only). Caches are saved to saved_caches_directory.

counter_cache_keys_to_save

(Default value: disabled)^note Number of keys from the counter cache to save. When disabled all keys are saved.

Tombstone settings

When executing a scan, within or across a partition, tombstones must be kept in memory to allow returning them to the coordinator. The coordinator uses them to ensure other replicas know about the deleted rows. Workloads that generate numerous tombstones may cause performance problems and exhaust the server heap. See Cassandra anti-patterns: Queues and queue-like datasets. Adjust these thresholds only if you understand the impact and want to scan more tombstones. Additionally, you can adjust these thresholds at runtime using the StorageServiceMBean.

Related information: Cassandra anti-patterns: Queues and queue-like datasets

tombstone_warn_threshold

(Default: 1000) The maximum number of tombstones a query can scan before warning.

tombstone_failure_threshold

(Default: 100000) The maximum number of tombstones a query can scan before aborting.

Network timeout settings

range_request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 10000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator waits for sequential or index scans to complete.

read_request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 5000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator waits for read operations to complete.

counter_write_request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 5000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator waits for counter writes to complete.

cas_contention_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 1000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator continues to retry a CAS (compare and set) operation that contends with other proposals for the same row.

truncate_request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 60000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator waits for truncates (remove all data from a table) to complete. The long default value allows for a snapshot to be taken before removing the data. If auto_snapshot is disabled (not recommended), you can reduce this time.

write_request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 2000 milliseconds) The time that the coordinator waits for write operations to complete.

Related information: Hinted Handoff: repair during write path

request_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 10000 milliseconds) The default time for other, miscellaneous operations.

Related information: Hinted Handoff: repair during write path

Inter-node settings

cross_node_timeout

(Default: false) Enable or disable operation timeout information exchange between nodes (to accurately measure request timeouts). If disabled Cassandra assumes the request are forwarded to the replica instantly by the coordinator, which means that under overload conditions extra time is required for processing already-timed-out requests..

CAUTION:

Before enabling this property make sure NTP (network time protocol) is installed and the times are synchronized between the nodes.

internode_send_buff_size_in_bytes

(Default: N/A)^note Sets the sending socket buffer size in bytes for inter-node calls.

When setting this parameter and internode_recv_buff_size_in_bytes, the buffer size is limited by net.core.wmem_max. When unset, buffer size is defined by net.ipv4.tcp_wmem. See man tcp and:

• /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max
• /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max
• /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem
• /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem

internode_recv_buff_size_in_bytes

(Default: N/A)^note Sets the receiving socket buffer size in bytes for inter-node calls.

internode_compression

(Default: all) Controls whether traffic between nodes is compressed. The valid values are:

• all

  All traffic is compressed.

• dc

  Traffic between data centers is compressed.

• none

  No compression.

inter_dc_tcp_nodelay

(Default: false) Enable or disable tcp_nodelay for inter-data center communication. When disabled larger, but fewer, network packets are sent. This reduces overhead from the TCP protocol itself. However, if cross data-center responses are blocked, it will increase latency.

streaming_socket_timeout_in_ms

(Default: 3600000 -1 hour)^note Enable or disable socket timeout for streaming operations. When a timeout occurs during streaming, streaming is retried from the start of the current file. Avoid setting this value too low, as it can result in a significant amount of data re-streaming.

Native transport (CQL Binary Protocol)

start_native_transport

(Default: true) Enable or disable the native transport server. Uses the same address as the rpc_address, but the port is different from the rpc_port. See native_transport_port.

native_transport_port

(Default: 9042) Port on which the CQL native transport listens for clients.

native_transport_max_threads

(Default: 128)^note The maximum number of thread handling requests. Similar to rpc_max_threads and differs as follows:

• Default is different (128 versus unlimited).
• No corresponding native_transport_min_threads.
• Idle threads are stopped after 30 seconds.

native_transport_max_frame_size_in_mb

(Default: 256MB) The maximum size of allowed frame. Frame (requests) larger than this are rejected as invalid.

native_transport_max_concurrent_connections

(Default: -1) Specifies the maximum number of concurrent client connections. The default value of -1 means unlimited.

native_transport_max_concurrent_connections_per_ip

(Default: -1) Specifies the maximum number of concurrent client connections per source IP address. The default value of -1 means unlimited.

RPC (remote procedure call) settings

Settings for configuring and tuning client connections.

broadcast_rpc_address

(Default: unset)^note RPC address to broadcast to drivers and other Cassandra nodes. This cannot be set to 0.0.0.0. If blank, it is set to the value of the rpc_address or rpc_interface. If rpc_address or rpc_interfaceis set to 0.0.0.0, this property must be set.

rpc_port

(Default: 9160) Thrift port for client connections.

start_rpc

(Default: true) Starts the Thrift RPC server.

rpc_keepalive

(Default: true) Enable or disable keepalive on client connections (RPC or native).

rpc_max_threads

(Default: unlimited)^note Regardless of your choice of RPC server (rpc_server_type), the number of maximum requests in the RPC thread pool dictates how many concurrent requests are possible. However, if you are using the parameter sync in the rpc_server_type, it also dictates the number of clients that can be connected. For a large number of client connections, this could cause excessive memory usage for the thread stack. Connection pooling on the client side is highly recommended. Setting a maximum thread pool size acts as a safeguard against misbehaved clients. If the maximum is reached, Cassandra blocks additional connections until a client disconnects.

rpc_min_threads

(Default: 16)^note Sets the minimum thread pool size for remote procedure calls.

rpc_recv_buff_size_in_bytes

(Default: N/A)^note Sets the receiving socket buffer size for remote procedure calls.

rpc_send_buff_size_in_bytes

(Default: N/A)^note Sets the sending socket buffer size in bytes for remote procedure calls.

rpc_server_type

(Default: sync) Cassandra provides three options for the RPC server. On Windows, sync is about 30% slower than hsha. On Linux, sync and hsha performance is about the same, but hsha uses less memory.

• sync: (Default One thread per Thrift connection.)

  For a very large number of clients, memory is the limiting factor. On a 64-bit JVM, 180KB is the minimum stack size per thread and corresponds to your use of virtual memory. Physical memory may be limited depending on use of stack space.

• hsha:
  Half synchronous, half asynchronous. All Thrift clients are handled asynchronously using a small number of threads that does not vary with the number of clients and thus scales well to many clients. The RPC requests are synchronous (one thread per active request).

  Note: When selecting this option, you must change the default value (unlimited) of rpc_max_threads.
• Your own RPC server

  You must provide a fully-qualified class name of an o.a.c.t.TServerFactory that can create a server instance.

Advanced fault detection settings

Settings to handle poorly performing or failing nodes.

dynamic_snitch_badness_threshold

(Default: 0.1) Sets the performance threshold for dynamically routing client requests away from a poorly performing node. Specifically, it controls how much worse a poorly performing node has to be before the dynamic snitch prefers other replicas over it. A value of 0.2 means Cassandra continues to prefer the static snitch values until the node response time is 20% worse than the best performing node. Until the threshold is reached, incoming requests are statically routed to the closest replica (as determined by the snitch). If the value of this parameter is greater than zero and read_repair_chance is less than 1.0, cache capacity is maximized across the nodes.

dynamic_snitch_reset_interval_in_ms

(Default: 600000 milliseconds) Time interval to reset all node scores, which allows a bad node to recover.

dynamic_snitch_update_interval_in_ms

(Default: 100 milliseconds) The time interval for how often the snitch calculates node scores. Because score calculation is CPU intensive, be careful when reducing this interval.

hinted_handoff_enabled

(Default: true) Enable or disable hinted handoff. To enable per data center, add data center list. For example: hinted_handoff_enabled: DC1,DC2. A hint indicates that the write needs to be replayed to an unavailable node. Where Cassandra writes the hint depends on the version:

• Prior to 1.0

  Writes to a live replica node.

• 1.0 and later

  Writes to the coordinator node.

Related information: Hinted Handoff: repair during write path

hinted_handoff_throttle_in_kb

(Default: 1024) Maximum throttle per delivery thread in kilobytes per second. This rate reduces proportionally to the number of nodes in the cluster. For example, if there are two nodes in the cluster, each delivery thread will use the maximum rate. If there are three, each node will throttle to half of the maximum, since the two nodes are expected to deliver hints simultaneously.

max_hint_window_in_ms

(Default: 10800000 milliseconds [3 hours]) Maximum amount of time that hints are generates hints for an unresponsive node. After this interval, new hints are no longer generated until the node is back up and responsive. If the node goes down again, a new interval begins. This setting can prevent a sudden demand for resources when a node is brought back online and the rest of the cluster attempts to replay a large volume of hinted writes.

Related information: Failure detection and recovery

max_hints_delivery_threads

(Default: 2) Number of threads with which to deliver hints. In multiple data-center deployments, consider increasing this number because cross data-center handoff is generally slower.

batchlog_replay_throttle_in_kb

(Default: 1024KB per second) Total maximum throttle. Throttling is reduced proportionally to the number of nodes in the cluster.

Request scheduler properties

Settings to handle incoming client requests according to a defined policy. If you need to use these properties, your nodes are overloaded and dropping requests. It is recommended that you add more nodes and not try to prioritize requests.

request_scheduler

(Default: org.apache.cassandra.scheduler.NoScheduler) Defines a scheduler to handle incoming client requests according to a defined policy. This scheduler is useful for throttling client requests in single clusters containing multiple keyspaces. This parameter is specifically for requests from the client and does not affect inter-node communication. Valid values are:

• org.apache.cassandra.scheduler.NoScheduler

  No scheduling takes place.

• org.apache.cassandra.scheduler.RoundRobinScheduler

  Round robin of client requests to a node with a separate queue for each request_scheduler_id property.

• A Java class that implements the RequestScheduler interface.

request_scheduler_id

(Default: keyspace)^note An identifier on which to perform request scheduling. Currently the only valid value is keyspace. See weights.

request_scheduler_options

(Default: disabled) Contains a list of properties that define configuration options for request_scheduler:

• throttle_limit

  The number of in-flight requests per client. Requests beyond this limit are queued up until running requests complete. Recommended value is ((concurrent_reads + concurrent_writes) × 2).

• default_weight: (Default: 1)^note

  How many requests are handled during each turn of the RoundRobin.

• weights: (Default: Keyspace: 1)

  Takes a list of keyspaces. It sets how many requests are handled during each turn of the RoundRobin, based on the request_scheduler_id.

Thrift interface properties

Legacy API for older clients. CQL is a simpler and better API for Cassandra.

thrift_framed_transport_size_in_mb

(Default: 15) Frame size (maximum field length) for Thrift. The frame is the row or part of the row that the application is inserting.

thrift_max_message_length_in_mb

(Default: 16) The maximum length of a Thrift message in megabytes, including all fields and internal Thrift overhead (1 byte of overhead for each frame). Message length is usually used in conjunction with batches. A frame length greater than or equal to 24 accommodates a batch with four inserts, each of which is 24 bytes. The required message length is greater than or equal to 24+24+24+24+4 (number of frames).

Security properties 

Server and client security settings.

authenticator

(Default: AllowAllAuthenticator) The authentication backend. It implements IAuthenticator for identifying users. The available authenticators are:

• AllowAllAuthenticator:

  Disables authentication; no checks are performed.

• PasswordAuthenticator

  Authenticates users with user names and hashed passwords stored in the system_auth.credentials table. If you use the default, 1, and the node with the lone replica goes down, you will not be able to log into the cluster because the system_auth keyspace was not replicated.

Related information: Internal authentication

internode_authenticator

(Default: enabled)^note Internode authentication backend. It implements org.apache.cassandra.auth.AllowAllInternodeAuthenticator to allows or disallow connections from peer nodes.

authorizer

(Default: AllowAllAuthorizer) The authorization backend. It implements IAuthenticator to limit access and provide permissions. The available authorizers are:

• AllowAllAuthorizer

  Disables authorization; allows any action to any user.

• CassandraAuthorizer

  Stores permissions in system_auth.permissions table. If you use the default, 1, and the node with the lone replica goes down, you will not be able to log into the cluster because the system_auth keyspace was not replicated.

Related information: Object permissions

role_manager

(Default: CassandraRoleManager) Part of the Authentication & Authorization backend that implements IRoleManager to maintain grants and memberships between roles. Out of the box, Cassandra provides org.apache.cassandra.auth.CassandraRoleManager, which stores role information in the system_auth keyspace. Most functions of the IRoleManager require an authenticated login, so unless the configured IAuthenticator actually implements authentication, most of this functionality will be unavailable. CassandraRoleManager stores role data in the system_auth keyspace. Please increase system_auth keyspace replication factor if you use the role manager.

roles_validity_in_ms

(Default: 2000) Fetching permissions can be an expensive operation depending on the authorizer, so this setting allows flexibility. Validity period for roles cache; set to 0 to disable. Granted roles are cached for authenticated sessions in AuthenticatedUser and after the period specified here, become eligible for (async) reload. Will be disabled automatically for AllowAllAuthenticator.

roles_update_interval_in_ms

(Default: 2000)  Refresh interval for roles cache, if enabled. Defaults to the same value as roles_validity_in_ms. After this interval, cache entries become eligible for refresh. Upon next access, an async reload is scheduled and the old value returned until it completes. If roles_validity_in_ms is non-zero, then this must be also.

permissions_validity_in_ms

(Default: 2000) How long permissions in cache remain valid. Depending on the authorizer, such as CassandraAuthorizer, fetching permissions can be resource intensive. This setting disabled when set to 0 or when AllowAllAuthorizer is set.

Related information: Object permissions

permissions_update_interval_in_ms

(Default: same value as permissions_validity_in_ms)^note Refresh interval for permissions cache (if enabled). After this interval, cache entries become eligible for refresh. On next access, an async reload is scheduled and the old value is returned until it completes. If permissions_validity_in_ms , then this property must be non-zero.

server_encryption_options

Enable or disable inter-node encryption. You must also generate keys and provide the appropriate key and trust store locations and passwords. No custom encryption options are currently enabled. The available options are:

• internode_encryption: (Default: none) Enable or disable encryption of inter-node communication using the TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA cipher suite for authentication, key exchange, and encryption of data transfers. Use the DHE/ECDHE ciphers if running in (Federal Information Processing Standard) FIPS 140 compliant mode. The available inter-node options are:
  • all

    Encrypt all inter-node communications.

  • none

    No encryption.

  • dc

    Encrypt the traffic between the data centers (server only).

  • rack

    Encrypt the traffic between the racks (server only).

• keystore: (Default: conf/.keystore)

  The location of a Java keystore (JKS) suitable for use with Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE), which is the Java version of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. The keystore contains the private key used to encrypt outgoing messages.

• keystore_password: (Default: cassandra)

  Password for the keystore.

• truststore: (Default: conf/.truststore)

  Location of the truststore containing the trusted certificate for authenticating remote servers.

• truststore_password: (Default: cassandra)

  Password for the truststore.

The passwords used in these options must match the passwords used when generating the keystore and truststore. For instructions on generating these files, see Creating a Keystore to Use with JSSE.

The advanced settings are:

• protocol: (Default: TLS)
• algorithm: (Default: SunX509)
• store_type: (Default: JKS)
• cipher_suites: (Default: TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA)
• require_client_auth: (Default: false)

  Enables or disables certificate authentication.

Related information: Node-to-node encryption

client_encryption_options

Enable or disable client-to-node encryption. You must also generate keys and provide the appropriate key and trust store locations and passwords. No custom encryption options are currently enabled. The available options are:

• enabled: (Default: false)

  To enable, set to true.

• keystore: (Default: conf/.keystore)

  The location of a Java keystore (JKS) suitable for use with Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE), which is the Java version of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. The keystore contains the private key used to encrypt outgoing messages.

• keystore_password: (Default: cassandra)

  Password for the keystore. This must match the password used when generating the keystore and truststore.

• require_client_auth: (Default: false)

  Enables or disables certificate authentication. (Available starting with Cassandra 1.2.3.)

• truststore: (Default: conf/.truststore)

  Set if require_client_auth is true.

• truststore_password: <truststore_password>

  Set if require_client_auth is true.

The advanced settings are:

• protocol: (Default: TLS)
• algorithm: (Default: SunX509)
• store_type: (Default: JKS)
• cipher_suites: (Default: TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA)

Related information: Client-to-node encryption

ssl_storage_port

(Default: 7001) The SSL port for encrypted communication. Unused unless enabled in encryption_options.