Install DataStax Enterprise 6.8 on a single node

Use these instructions to install a single instance of DataStax Enterprise (DSE) on a Linux-based platform using a binary tarball. When installed from a binary tarball, DSE runs as a stand-alone process.

You can use this single-node demo deployment to explore DSE features, transactional (Apache Cassandra) workloads, and advanced workloads (DataStax Graph, DSE Analytics, and DSE Search). For a summary of features and changes, see the DSE 6.8 release notes.

When you install DSE, it creates a cassandra superuser role in the database, and DSE runs as this user. Don’t use the default cassandra role in production because it is a security risk. Instead, create a new superuser role for running DSE.

These steps create a single-node deployment for demonstration purposes only. For other installation options, see Choose an installation method.

Prerequisites

An environment where you want to install DSE, including sufficient hardware and a supported platform.
Install a supported Java runtime: OpenJDK 8 (recommended, 1.8.0_242 minimum) or Oracle Java SE 8 (JDK).

If you install multiple Java versions, set your $JAVA_HOME environment variable to Java 8.

Package management tools do not install Oracle Java.
To run the CQL shell (cqlsh), install a supported Python version. DataStax recommends 3.8 to 3.11.
For production installations and simulated production test environments, review the recommended settings.

Some settings can be applied before installing DSE. For settings that require a running DSE instance, plan to apply them after the installation.

Install DSE 6.8 on a single node

Install the libaio package. For example:
- RHEL platforms:
  sudo yum install libaio
- Debian platforms:
  sudo apt-get install libaio1
- Ubuntu 24.04 and later platforms:
  sudo apt-get install libaio1t64
Find DSE 6.8 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 DSE tarball link to download the tarball file, for example, dse-VERSION-bin.tar.gz.
Extract the tarball file into the directory where you want to install DSE 6.8:
```
sudo tar -xzvf dse-6.8.60-bin.tar.gz -C INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY
```
Change to the directory where you extracted the tarball:
```
cd INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY/dse-VERSION
```
Replace the following:
- INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY: The path to the installation directory
- VERSION: The version of DSE you installed

Create the default data and logging directories:

/var/lib/cassandra

/var/log/cassandra

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/cassandra; sudo chown -R $USER:$GROUP /var/lib/cassandra

sudo mkdir -p /var/log/cassandra; sudo chown -R $USER:$GROUP /var/log/cassandra

Start DSE from the installation directory:
```
bin/dse cassandra
```

Verify that DSE is running from the installation directory:

bin/nodetool status

Results when using vnodes:

Datacenter: Cassandra
=====================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--  Address    Load       Tokens  Owns    Host ID                               Rack
UN  127.0.0.1  82.43 KB   128     ?       40725dc8-7843-43ae-9c98-7c532b1f517e  rack1

Results when not using vnodes:

Datacenter: Analytics
=====================
Status=Up/Down
|/ State=Normal/Leaving/Joining/Moving
--  Address         Load       Owns    Host ID                               Token                 Rack
UN  172.16.222.136  103.24 KB  ?       3c1d0657-0990-4f78-a3c0-3e0c37fc3a06  1647352612226902707   rack1

Start cqlsh from the installation directory:
```
bin/cqlsh
```
For more, see Accessing data using CQL.

Install DataStax Enterprise 6.8 on a single node

Prerequisites

Install DSE 6.8 on a single node

Next steps

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