Install the cqlsh standalone tool

You can install the CQL shell (cqlsh) standalone tool on any Linux-based platform. This command line shell connects remotely to your DSE database cluster. You don’t need to run cqlsh locally on a cluster node, or use the built-in cqlsh that is included with your DSE installation.

CQL shell requires Python 2.7 or 3.8 through 3.11. cqlsh doesn’t support Python 3.12 and later. If you have multiple Python versions installed, run cqlsh in a virtual environment that uses a supported Python version.

To install the standalone CQL shell tool, you need a cqlsh binary tarball file. These files are available on IBM Fix Central in the DSE fix packs for each DSE version.

Find the DSE fix pack for your current DSE version, and then download the cqlsh binary tarball from that fix pack:

Find DSE fix packs on IBM Fix Central:
1. Go to Fix Central.
2. In the Product selector field, begin typing IBM DataStax Enterprise, and then select that option from the menu.
3. In the Release field, select the version that you want to install.
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Identify fixes page, click Continue to use the default Browse for fixes option.
6. On the Select fixes page, select the fix pack (DSE version) you want to install, and then click Continue.
  
  Depending on the product and version, more fix packs might be available if you set the Platform filter to All, and then click Submit.
7. If prompted, sign in with your IBMid.
  
  An IBMid account with MFA enabled is required. If you don’t have one, create an IBMid account. If your organization uses Enterprise Federation (EF) for authentication with corporate credentials, see the IBMid EF documentation.
8. On the Download options page, select Download using your browser (HTTPS), and then click Continue.
9. Review the terms and conditions, and then click I agree to activate the download links.
Click the cqlsh binary tarball link to download the file, for example, cqlsh-6.8.60-bin.tar.gz.
Change to the directory where you downloaded the cqlsh package:
```
cd DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY
```
Replace DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY with the path where you downloaded the cqlsh package.
Extract the files:
```
tar -xzvf cqlsh-VERSION-bin.tar.gz
```
The files are downloaded and extracted into the current directory.
Connect to a cluster by starting the standalone cqlsh tool.

Install the cqlsh standalone tool

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