The cassandra utility

You can run Cassandra 3.2 and later with start-up parameters to by adding them to the jvm.options file (package or tarball installations). You can also enter parameters at the command line when starting up a tarball installation.

Note: If you are using Cassandra 3.1, see the Cassandra 3.0 documentation.

You can also add options such as maximum and minimum heap size to the jvm.options file to pass them to the Java virtual machine at startup, rather than setting them in the environment.

The location of the cassandra.yaml file depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml
Tarball installations	`install_location`/resources/cassandra/conf/cassandra.yaml

Usage

Add a parameter to the file as follows:

JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -D[PARAMETER]"

The location of the cassandra-env.sh file depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/etc/cassandra/cassandra-env.sh
Tarball installations	`install_location`/conf/cassandra-env.sh

The location of the jvm.options file depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/etc/cassandra/jvm.options
Tarball installations	`install_location`/conf/jvm.options

When starting up a tarball installations, you can add parameters at the command line:

$ cassandra [PARAMETERS]

Examples:

Command line: $ bin/cassandra -Dcassandra.load_ring_state=false
jvm.options: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.load_ring_state=false"

The Example section contains more examples.

Command line only options


Option	Description
-f	Start the cassandra process in foreground. The default is to start as background process.
-h	Help.
-p `filename`	Log the process ID in the named file. Useful for stopping Cassandra by killing its PID.
-v	Print the version and exit.

Start-up parameters

The -D option specifies start-up parameters at the command line and in the cassandra-env.sh file.

cassandra.auto_bootstrap=false: Sets auto_bootstrap to false on initial set-up of the cluster. The next time you start the cluster, you do not need to change the cassandra.yaml file on each node to revert to true.
cassandra.available_processors=number_of_processors: In a multi-instance deployment, each Cassandra instance independently assumes that all CPU processors are available to it. Use this setting to specify a smaller set of processors.
cassandra.boot_without_jna=true: Configures Cassandra to boot without JNA. If you do not set this parameter to true, and JNA does not initalize, Cassandra does not boot.
cassandra.config=directory: Sets the directory location of the cassandra.yaml file. The default location depends on the type of installation.
cassandra.initial_token=token: Use when Cassandra is not using virtual nodes (vnodes). Sets the initial partitioner token for a node the first time the node is started. (Default: disabled)
Note: Vnodes automatically select tokens.
cassandra.join_ring=true|false: When set to false, prevents the Cassandra node from joining a ring on startup. (Default: true) You can add the node to the ring afterwards using nodetool join and a JMX call.
cassandra.load_ring_state=true|false: When set to false, clears all gossip state for the node on restart. (Default: true)

cassandra.metricsReporterConfigFile=file

Enables pluggable metrics reporter. See Pluggable metrics reporting in Cassandra 2.0.2.

cassandra.native_transport_port=port

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

cassandra.partitioner=partitioner

Sets the partitioner. (Default: org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner)

cassandra.replace_address=listen_address or broadcast_address of dead node

To replace a node that has died, restart a new node in its place specifying the listen_address or broadcast_address that the new node is assuming. The new node must be in the same state as before bootstrapping, without any data in its data directory.

Note: The broadcast_address defaults to the listen_address except when the ring is using the Ec2MultiRegionSnitch.

cassandra.replayList=table

Allows restoring specific tables from an archived commit log.

cassandra.ring_delay_ms=ms

Defines the amount of time a node waits to hear from other nodes before formally joining the ring. (Default: 1000ms)

cassandra.rpc_port=port

Sets the port for the Thrift RPC service, which is used for client connections. (Default: 9160).

cassandra.ssl_storage_port=port

Sets the SSL port for encrypted communication. (Default: 7001)

cassandra.start_native_transport=true | false

Enables or disables the native transport server. See start_native_transport in cassandra.yaml. (Default: true)

cassandra.start_rpc=true | false

Enables or disables the Thrift RPC server. (Default: true)

cassandra.storage_port=port

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

cassandra.triggers_dir=directory

Sets the default location for the JARs.

The location of the triggers directory depends on the type of installation:

Package installations	/var/lib/cassandra
Tarball installations	`install_location`/conf

cassandra.write_survey=true

Enables a tool sor testing new compaction and compression strategies. write_survey allows you to experiment with different strategies and benchmark write performance differences without affecting the production workload. See Testing compaction and compression.

consistent.rangemovement=true

Set to true, makes bootstrapping behavior effective.

Example

Clearing gossip state when starting a node:

Command line: $ bin/cassandra -Dcassandra.load_ring_state=false
jvm.options: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.load_ring_state=false"

Example

Starting a Cassandra node without joining the ring:

Command line: bin/cassandra -Dcassandra.join_ring=false
jvm.options: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.join_ring=false"

Example

Replacing a dead node:

Command line: bin/cassandra -Dcassandra.replace_address=10.91.176.160
jvm.options: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.replace_address=10.91.176.160"