Secure the /tmp directory
Enterprise security policies often require mounting the /tmp directory with the no execution (noexec) flag.
By default, Cassandra Java Native Access (JNA) is mapped to /tmp, and JNA requires an executable directory to start.
Policies that mount /tmp with noexec can prevent JNA from starting, which also prevents HCD from starting.
The /tmp directory must be executable because it is used for extraction and loading of the native code.
If HCD cannot start for this reason, you must remap JNA to an executable directory. Additionally, the user that runs the HCD service must have full read, write, and execute permissions on this directory.
Identify JVM initialization failure
If HCD fails to start, the JNA startup directory might be unavailable.
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To verify this, get the last few lines of the system log:
tail -5 /var/log/cassandra/system.log -
Look for messages about JNA failure. For example:
ERROR main 2024-07-28 09:57:00,879 CassandraDaemon.java:213 - JNA failing to initialize properly. Use -Dcassandra.boot_without_jna=true to bootstrap even so. INFO Thread-2 2024-07-28 09:57:00,880 DseDaemon.java:418 - HCD shutting down... INFO Thread-2 2024-07-28 09:57:00,881 PluginManager.java:103 - All plugins are stopped.
Map the JNA tmpdir
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Create a directory to use as the new JNA startup directory.
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Grant the Cassandra (database) user full read, write, and execute permissions on this directory.
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Find your HCD installation’s JVM options files:
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Package installations:
/etc/hcd/cassandra/ -
Tarball installations:
INSTALL_DIRECTORY/resources/cassandra/conf/
There are multiple files that control Java Virtual Machine options:
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jvm-server.options: Options independent of any particular JVM -
jvm11-server.options: Options particular to JVM 11
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Map the JNA temporary directory:
In the
jvm-server.optionsfile, add the following options with the absolute path to the new directory:jvm-server.options-Dio.netty.native.workdir=JNA_STARTUP_DIRECTORY_PATH -Djna.tmpdir=JNA_STARTUP_DIRECTORY_PATHAlternatively, you can set this option in
cassandra-env.sh:cassandra-env.shJVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dio.netty.native.workdir=JNA_STARTUP_DIRECTORY_PATH" JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Djna.tmpdir=JNA_STARTUP_DIRECTORY_PATH"
