Get started with Hyper-Converged Database (HCD)
Hyper-Converged Database (HCD) is a powerful tool for managing your data. This topic provides basic information and a roadmap to documentation for users new to HCD.
HCD provides all the capabilities of Apache Cassandra®. In addition, you may optionally choose to set up and use HCD with vector search. Evaluate HCD with vector search free of charge for 180 days. Note that non-production issues raised with DataStax support will incur a charge.
Keep in mind that if you want to have DataStax manage your database, you can use DataStax Astra DB, a cloud-native database-as-a-service built on Cassandra.
Plan your installation
Self-managed clusters require planning to ensure that you have the right hardware and software to support your workload. Explore the following topics to help you plan your cluster:
Choose a deployment method
Before starting development, you need to deploy an HCD cluster. DataStax offers a variety of ways to set up a cluster. Select the method below that best suits your environment.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
Mission Control (preferred method) |
Mission Control is a cloud-based service that provides a unified management console for your database clusters. If you are planning a production deployment, DataStax recommends using Mission Control to manage your clusters. For installation instructions, see Install and configure Mission Control. Mission Control is also able to deploy the Data API for a simple JSON document oriented interface to data. For more details on the Data API and how it compares to the CQL interface, see API reference overview. |
CLI |
You can manually run kubectl commands to install HCD. DataStax recommends that you use this installation method only if you have experience with Kubernetes. You can use the Mission Control UI to install HCD without running Kubernetes manually. |
Docker |
You can use Docker to explore non-prod development with HCD in a containerized environment. An image for HCD is available at https://hub.docker.com/r/datastax/HCD/. |
For installation instructions, see Install HCD.
Choose an API and connect
HCD 1.0 provides a variety of APIs for developing applications:
| API | Description |
|---|---|
Data API with clients |
The Data API is DataStax’s newest API for writing applications that store and query unstructured document data. The main development tool for writing applications that use the Data API are the clients that are currently available in three languages: Python, TypeScript, and Java. |
CQL API with drivers |
The Cassandra Query Language (CQL) is a SQL-like language for querying and managing databases. It stores structured data in tables and uses primary keys to index data. The main development tool for writing applications that use CQL are the community-supported and DataStax-supported drivers that are available in various languages. For example, see Python, NodeJS, or Java quickstarts. For details, see DataStax drivers. |
CQL API with |
The Cassandra Query Language Shell ( |
For details, see Compare connection methods.
Load data
DataStax provides tools for getting data into and out of the database:
