How are consistent read and write operations handled?

Tunable consistency

To ensure the database can provide the proper levels of consistency for its reads and writes, DSE extends the concept of eventual consistency by offering tunable consistency. The consistency level can be tuned for each operation, or set globally for a cluster or datacenter. You can vary the consistency for individual read or write operations so that the data returned is more or less consistent, as required by the client application. This allows DSE to act more like a CP or AP system, depending on the application requirements.

There is a tradeoff between operation latency and consistency: higher consistency incurs higher latency, and lower consistency permits lower latency. You can control latency by tuning consistency.

The consistency level determines the number of replicas that must acknowledge the read or write operation success to the client application. For read operations, the read consistency level specifies how many replicas must respond to a read request before returning data to the client application. If a read operation reveals inconsistency among replicas, the database initiates a read repair to update the inconsistent data.

For write operations, the write consistency level specifies how many replicas must respond to a write request before the write is considered successful. Even at low consistency levels, the database writes to all replicas of the partition key, including replicas in other datacenters. The write consistency level only specifies when the coordinator node can report to the client application that the write operation is considered complete. Write operations use hinted handoffs to ensure the writes are completed when replicas are down or otherwise not responsive to the write request.

Typically, a client specifies a consistency level that is less than the replication factor specified by the keyspace. Another common practice is to write at a consistency level of QUORUM and read at a consistency level of QUORUM. The choices made depend on the client application's needs. DSE provides maximum flexibility for application design.

Linearizable consistency

In ACID terms, linearizable consistency (or serial consistency) is a serial (immediate) isolation level for lightweight transactions. DSE does not use employ traditional mechanisms like locking or transactional dependencies when concurrently updating multiple rows or tables.

However, some operations must be performed in sequence and not interrupted by other operations. For example, duplications or overwrites in user-account creation can have serious consequences. Situations like race conditions (two clients updating the same record) can introduce inconsistency across replicas. Writing with high consistency does nothing to reduce this. You can apply linearizable consistency to a unique identifier, like a user ID or email address, although it is not required for all aspects of the user's account. Serial operations for these elements can be implemented in the database with the Paxos consensus protocol, which uses a quorum-based algorithm to ensure that at least some surviving processor retains knowledge of search results in the event of failure.

Lightweight transactions can be implemented without the need for a master database or two-phase commit process. Lightweight transaction write operations use the serial consistency level for Paxos consensus and the regular consistency level for writing to the table. For more information, see Lightweight Transactions.

Calculating consistency

R + W > N

For example, if the replication factor is 3, then the consistency level of the reads and writes combined must be at least 4. Read operations using 2 out of 3 replicas to verify the value, and write operations using 2 out of 3 replicas to verify the value will result in strong consistency. If fast write operations are required, but strong consistency is still desired, the write consistency level is lowered to 1, but now read operations have to verify a matched value on all 3 replicas. Writes will be fast, but reads will be slower.

R + W <= N

If the replication factor is 3, then the consistency level of the reads and writes combined are 3 or less. For example, read operations using QUORUM (2 out of 3 replicas) to verify the value, and write operations using ONE (1 out of 3 replicas) to do fast writes will result in eventual consistency. All replicas will receive the data, but read operations are more vulnerable to selecting data before all replicas write the data.

Additional consistency examples: