nodetool describecluster

Returns the name, snitch, partitioner, and schema version of a cluster.

Typically used to validate the schema after upgrading.

Synopsis

nodetool <options> describecluster -- <datacenter>

Tarball and Installer No-Services path:

<installation_location>/resources/cassandra/bin
Connection options
Short Long Description

-h

--host

Hostname or IP address.

-p

--port

Port number.

-pwf

--password-file

Password file path.

-pw

--password

Password.

-u

--username

Remote JMX agent username.

--

Separates an option from an argument that could be mistaken for an option.

Example

Get cluster name, snitch, partitioner, and schema version:

 nodetool describecluster

If there is no schema disagreement, then the output lists one schema version:

Cluster Information:
	Name: Test Cluster
	Snitch: org.apache.cassandra.locator.DynamicEndpointSnitch
	Partitioner: org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner
	Schema versions:
		65e78f0e-e81e-30d8-a631-a65dff93bf82: [127.0.0.1]

If a schema disagreement occurs, the last line of the output includes information about unreachable nodes:

Cluster Information:
	Name: Production Cluster
       Snitch: org.apache.cassandra.locator.DynamicEndpointSnitch
       Partitioner: org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner
       Schema versions:
              UNREACHABLE: 1176b7ac-8993-395d-85fd-41b89ef49fbb: [10.202.205.203]

Handle schema disagreements

When you run nodetool describecluster or restart nodes, the following messages can be returned if there is a problem validating the schema versions:

Restart with mismatched schema versions
Warning: schema version mismatch detected; check the schema versions of your nodes in system.local and system.peers.
nodetool describecluster with unreachable nodes
Cluster Information:
  Name: Cluster12345abcde
  Snitch: org.apache.cassandra.locator.DynamicEndpointSnitch
  Partitioner: org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner
  Schema versions:
  UNREACHABLE: NODE_ID: [NODE_IP_ADDRESS]
               NODE_ID: [NODE_IP_ADDRESS]
               NODE_ID: [NODE_IP_ADDRESS]

There are two causes for these messages:

  • The nodes are unavailable and the schema version cannot be verified.

  • The schema versions legitimately don’t match.

Because unavailable nodes can produce false mismatch detected warnings, first run nodetool describecluster to identify any UNREACHABLE nodes.

If there are no UNREACHABLE nodes, compare the schema versions in the output, and then resolve the schema disagreements.

If there are any UNREACHABLE nodes, restart those nodes, and then rerun nodetool describecluster. Repeat this process until nodetool describecluster doesn’t find any UNREACHABLE nodes.

To ensure there is no schema disagreement, nodetool describecluster must output only one schema version number for all nodes.

Was this helpful?

Give Feedback

How can we improve the documentation?

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2026 | Privacy policy | Terms of use Manage Privacy Choices

Apache, Apache Cassandra, Cassandra, Apache Tomcat, Tomcat, Apache Lucene, Apache Solr, Apache Hadoop, Hadoop, Apache Pulsar, Pulsar, Apache Spark, Spark, Apache TinkerPop, TinkerPop, Apache Kafka and Kafka are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation or its subsidiaries in Canada, the United States and/or other countries. Kubernetes is the registered trademark of the Linux Foundation.

General Inquiries: Contact IBM