Cassandra's data model is a partitioned row store with tunable consistency. Rows are organized into tables; the first component of a table's primary key is the partition key; within a partition, rows are clustered by the remaining columns of the key. Other columns can be indexed separately from the primary key.

A brief description of data modeling in Cassandra.

An index provides a means to access data in Cassandra using attributes other than the partition key for fast, efficient lookup of data matching a given condition.

Internally, CQL does not change the row and column mapping from the Thrift API mapping. CQL and Thrift use the same storage engine.

You can use CQL on the command line of a Cassandra node, from DataStax DevCenter, or programmatically using a number of APIs and drivers.

How to start cqlsh.

You can use tab completion to see hints about how to complete a cqlsh command.

Creating a keyspace is the CQL counterpart to creating an SQL database.

Steps for creating a table with a single primary key.

Details about Cassandra database objects and cluster configuration in the system keyspace tables.

Using the SELECT command.

To simplify tracking multiple keyspaces, use the keyspace qualifier instead of the USE statement.

Steps for creating a table, inserting data into two columns, and calling the TTL function to retrieve the date/time of the writes to the columns.

Using the WRITETIME function in a SELECT statement to return the date/time in microseconds when the column was written to the database.

Using the ALTER TABLE command to add new columns to a table.

Using ALTER TABLE, you can change the data type of a column after it is defined or added to a table.

Setting the column values for automatic removal using the TTL (time-to-expire) table attribute.

Collection types provide an improved way of handling tasks, such as building multiple email address capability into tables.

Using cqlsh to create an index on column values.

Using CQL to page through rows.

A counter is a special column for storing a number that is changed in increments.

About using CQL.

CQL input consists of statements that change data, look up data, store data, or change the way data is stored.

Built-in data types for columns.

About using CQL keyspace and table properties.

A list of CQL table properties and their syntax.

Constructing a map of the compaction property and its subproperties.

Configuring compression for a table.

A list of cqlsh commands.

A list of CQL commands.