Get started with DataStax drivers
To develop applications with databases that are based on Apache Cassandra®, you can use Cassandra drivers.
While there are many Cassandra drivers available, this guide focuses on drivers that DataStax has verified to be compatible with Astra DB, DataStax Enterprise (DSE), and Hyper-Converged Database (HCD) as well as open-source Apache Cassandra.
This documentation provides guidance on application development with DataStax-compatible drivers, including supported languages, supported versions, best practices, connection methods, query submission, and error handling.
Use this documentation in conjunction with the documentation for your chosen driver and database product.
Cassandra drivers and DataStax drivers
The terms drivers for Apache Cassandra® and Cassandra drivers refer to all drivers that can be used with Cassandra-based databases.
Due to the open source nature of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), Cassandra drivers are developed by different contributors, depending on source code ownership or primary responsibility. The majority of the drivers described in this guide are developed by either DataStax or the Apache Software Foundation.
Some drivers, such as the Java driver, originate from DataStax and are later donated to the ASF. When a donation happens, the documentation is split between the original maintainer (pre-donation versions) and the ASF (post-donation versions).
For simplicity, this guide uses the following terms to refer to all DataStax-compatible Cassandra drivers:
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Cassandra drivers
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DataStax-compatible drivers
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Cassandra-compatible drivers
When referring to a specific driver version or series, the documentation may use the maintainer’s prefix for clarity, such as DataStax Java driver or Apache Cassandra Java driver. The DataStax prefix may also be used to highlight functionality that is specific to DataStax, such as DSE Graph.
Download DataStax-compatible drivers
To download drivers, see the DataStax drivers downloads page and the Community drivers downloads page.
For information about installing and using drivers, see Cassandra drivers supported by DataStax.
DataStax driver features
DataStax-compatible drivers support features such as the following:
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CQL support
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Query builder with Synchronous and asynchronous query execution
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Address translation
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Automatic cluster discovery
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Compression
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DSE Advanced Security and unified authentication
Specific features and capabilities vary by driver language, driver version, and database product. DataStax recommends, whenever possible, that you use the latest version of your chosen driver to access the most recent features and improvements.
This documentation describes general features and capabilities of the DataStax-compatible drivers. You must refer to your chosen driver’s documentation for specific information about supported features and capabilities, including limitations, configuration details, and usage instructions.
DataStax Enterprise (DSE) workloads
DSE supports several workload types:
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Transactional (Cassandra-only)
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Search
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Analytics
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Graph
The DataStax drivers support most of these workloads natively, simplifying applications that run Transactional, Search, and Graph queries alongside one another.
The DataStax drivers in this guide do not support DSE Analytics queries. The access patterns in analytics use cases are different than the access patterns used by the other workloads. The ODBC and JDBC drivers for DSE Analytics and the DSE Spark Cassandra Connector are typically used with the DSE drivers for analytics applications.
For more about workloads, see Working with multi-workload clusters.
