DataStax Enterprise 6.0 new features

Features released in DataStax Enterprise 6.0.

DataStax Enterprise, built on Apache Cassandra™, powers the Right-Now Enterprise with an always-on, distributed cloud database designed for hybrid cloud. DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 6.0 dramatically increases performance and eases operational management with new features and enhancements.

Be sure to read the DataStax Enterprise 6.0 release notes.

Feature Description
NodeSync DSE NodeSync removes the need for manual repair operations in DSE's distribution of Cassandra and eliminates cluster outages that are attributed to manual repair failures. This equates to operational cost savings, reduced support cycles, and reduced application management pain. NodeSync also makes applications run more predictably, making capacity planning easier. NodeSync’s advantages for operational simplicity extend across the whole data layer including database, search, and analytics.

Be sure to read the DSE NodeSync: Operational Simplicity at its Best blog.
Advanced Performance DSE Advanced Performance delivers numerous performance advantages over open-source Apache Cassandra including:
  • Thread per core (TPC) and asynchronous architecture: A coordination-free design, DSE’s thread-per-core architecture provides up to 2x more throughput for read and write operations.
  • Storage engine optimizations that provide up to half the latency of open source Cassandra and include optimized compaction.
  • DataStax Bulk Loader Up to 4x faster loads and unloads of data over current data loading utilities. Up to 4 times faster than current data loading utilities. Be sure to read the Introducing DataStax Bulk Loader blog.
  • Continuous paging improves DSE Analytics read performance by up to 3x over open source Apache Cassandra and Apache Spark.

Be sure to read the DSE Advanced Performance blog.
DSE TrafficControl DSE TrafficControl provides a backpressure mechanism to avoid overloading DSE nodes with client or replica requests that could make DSE nodes unresponsive or lead to long garbage collections and out of memory errors. DSE TrafficControl is enabled by default and comes pre-tuned to accommodate very different workloads, from simple reads and writes to the most extreme workloads. It requires no configuration.
Automated Upgrades for patch releases Part of OpsCenter LifeCycle Manager, the Upgrade Service handles patch upgrades of DSE clusters at the data center, rack, or node level with up to 60% less manual involvement. The Upgrade Service allows you to easily clone your existing configuration profile to ensure compatibility with DSE upgrades. Be sure to read the Taking the Pain Out of Database Upgrades blog.
DSE Analytics New features in DSE Analytics include:
  • AlwaysOn SQL with advanced security, ensures around-the-clock uptime for analytics queries with the freshest, secure insight. It is interoperable with existing business intelligence tools that utilize ODBC/JDBC and other Spark-based tools. Be sure to read the Introducing AlwaysOn SQL for DSE Analytics blog.
  • Structured Streaming simple, efficient, and robust streaming of data from Apache Kafka, file systems, or other sources.
  • Enhanced Spark SQL support allows you to execute Spark queries using a variation of the SQL language. Spark SQL includes APIs for returning Spark Datasets in Scala and Java, and interactively using an SQL shell or visually through DataStax Studio notebooks.

Be sure to read the What’s New for DataStax Enterprise Analytics 6 blog.
DSE Graph New features in DSE Graph include:
  • Better throughput for DSE Graph due to Advanced Performance improvements, resulting in DSE Graph handling more requests per node.
  • Smart Analytics Query Routing: the DSE Graph engine automatically routes a Gremlin OLAP traversal to the correct implementation (DSE Graph Frames or Gremlin OLAP) for the fastest and best execution.
  • Advanced Schema Management provides the ability to remove any graph schema element, not just vertex labels or properties.
  • The Batches in DSE Graph Fluent API adds the ability to execute DSE Graph statements in batches to speeds up writes to DSE Graph.
  • TinkerPop 3.3.0. DataStax has added a lot of great enhancements to the Apache TinkerPopTM tool suite. Enhancements have proved faster, more robust graph querying and provided a better developer experience.

Be sure to read the What’s New in DSE Graph 6 blog.
DSE Security New security features include:
  • Private Schemas: Control who can see what parts of a table definition, critical for security compliance best practices.
  • Separation of Duties: Create administrator roles who can carry out everyday administrative tasks without having unnecessary access to data.
  • Auditing by Role: Focus your audits on the users you need to scrutinize. You can now elect to audit activity by user type and increase the signal to noise ratio by removing application tier system accounts from the audit trail.
  • Unified Authorization for DSE Analytics: Additional protection for data used for analytics operations.

Be sure to read the Safe data? Check. DataStax Enterprise Advanced Security blog.
DSE Search Built with a production-certified version of Apache Solr™ 6, DSE Search requires less configuration, improved search data consistency, and a more synchronous write path for indexing data with less moving pieces to tune and monitor. DSE 5.1 introduced index management CQL and cqlsh commands to streamline operations and development. DSE 6.0 adds a wider array of CQL query functionality and indexing support.

Be sure to read the What’s New for Search in DSE 6 blog.
Drivers DataStax drivers are updated for DSE 6.0, including:
  • The Batches in DSE Graph Fluent API adds the ability to execute DSE Graph statements in batches to speed up writes to DSE Graph.
  • The C# and Node.js DataStax drivers include Batches in DSE Graph Fluent API, as well as the Java and Python drivers.

Be sure to read the What’s New With Drivers for DSE 6 blog.
DataStax Studio Improvements to DSE Studio further ease DSE development include:
  • Notebook Sharing: Easily collaborate with your colleagues to develop DSE applications using the new import and export capabilities.
  • Spark SQL support: Query and analyze data with Spark SQL using DataStax Studio's visual and intelligent notebooks, which provide syntax highlighting, auto-code completion and correction, and more.
  • Interactive Graphs: explore and configure DSE Graph schemas with a whiteboard-like view that allows you to drag your vertices and edges.
  • Notebook History: provides a historical dated record with descriptions and change events that makes it easy to track and rollback changes.

Be sure to read the Announcing DataStax Studio 6 blog.