DataStax Enterprise 6.7 new features

Features released in DataStax Enterprise 6.7.

Built on Apache Cassandra®, DataStax Enterprise (DSE) adds operational reliability hardened by the Fortune 100 and supports more workloads from graph to search to analytics. Easily deploy the only active-everywhere database platform that runs wherever needed: on-premises, across regions or clouds.

Be sure to read the DataStax Enterprise 6.7 release notes and the blog Announcing DataStax Enterprise 6.7 (And More!)

Feature Description
Version numbers Starting with 6.7, the version numbers for DataStax Enterprise, DSE OpsCenter, and DataStax Studio are now synchronized. This correspondence makes it easier to know which product versions belong together.
DataStax Apache Kafka Connector Uses the Kafka Connect framework to automatically sync records from a Kafka topic to a DataStax Enterprise database table. This capability allows you act on events as they arrive, including fraud/anomaly detection, financial systems, IoT time series, and similar use cases. You install the connector as a plug-in on the Kafka platform.

Be sure to read the Introducing the DataStax Apache Kafka Connector blog.

DSE Analytics New features in DSE Analytics include:
  • The Apache Spark™ connectivity layer is enhanced to improve performance, deliver greater stability, and decrease resource overhead on a DSE cluster.
  • Improvements to DSEFS include:
    • Improved Kerberos support.
    • Simplified working with many files and nested folders stored in DSEFS.
  • Faster graph database analytical performance and a better high-availability Spark engine.

Be sure to read the What’s New for DataStax Enterprise Analytics 6.7https://www.datastax.com/2018/12/whats-new-for-datastax-enterprise-analytics-6-7 blog.

Geospatial Search Geospatial Search makes building applications for geospatial search use cases, such as logistics, IoT, and financial network management much easier. DSE 6.7 includes automatic handling of key geospatial data types, automated installation of geospatial software on every DSE node, and support for geospatial heatmaps in CQL.

Be sure to read the What’s New for Search in DSE 6.7 blog.

DSE Search Improved diagnostic monitoring of search performance and better speed and reliability for deployments of DSE Search that use vnodes.

Be sure to read theBackup Service in DSE OpsCenter 6.7—Data Protection At Scale blog.

Data protection New capabilities in OpsCenter 6.7 add backups to Microsoft Azure and generic S3 platforms. Additionally, improvements in the restore engine get a database back on its feet magnitudes faster than prior releases.

Be sure to read the Backup Service in DSE OpsCenter 6.7—Data Protection At Scale blog.

Security Support for PKCS11 keystores for SSL is available when you add your own libraries and update java.security.
Attention: DataStax supports PKCS11 as a keystore_type on nodes with cassandra or advanced workloads. The cassandra workload support is specific to DSE 6.7.7 and later releases. The advanced workload support is specific to DSE 6.7.9 and later. If PKCS11 is needed, in server_encryption_options or client_encryption_options, specify the keystore_type as PKCS11 and the keystore as NONE. PKCS11 is not supported in DSE 6.0.x and 5.1.x releases. PKCS11 is not supported as a truststore_type.
DSE Metrics Collector When DSE 6.7 starts, it automatically begins sending metrics and other structured events to DSE Metrics Collector. Aggregates DSE metrics and integrates with existing monitoring solutions to facilitate problem resolution and remediation. It is built on collectd, a popular, well-supported, open source metric collection agent. With over 90 plugins, you can tailor the solution to collect metrics most important to your organization. To disable, see Disabling DSE Metrics Collector.

Be sure to read theImproved Performance Diagnostics With DataStax Metrics Collector blog.

Production Docker images DataStax Docker images are certified for production usage.

Be sure to read the DSE and Docker: From Development to Production blog.

Drivers DataStax drivers are updated for DSE 6.7. Additionally, a new guide has been created for Connecting to DSE clusters using DSE drivers.