Apache Cassandra

A complete Apache Cassandra path covering ring/token architecture, replication and consistency, query-first modeling, CQL, read/write/storage paths, compaction, tombstones, lightweight transactions, SAI, vector search, drivers, topology operations, repair, backup, security, observability, performance, guardrails, upgrades, multi-datacenter resilience, and production operations.

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27chapters

135lesson paths

Intermediate → Advancedlearning level

Publishedcourse state

Coverage baselineApache Cassandra 5.0 concepts including Storage-Attached Indexing (SAI) and vector search

Course brief

Design the partition model first; everything operational flows from it.

This syllabus deliberately separates foundations, data modeling, query behavior, internals, reliability, security, performance, operations, and production design so advanced material is not compressed into generic catch-all chapters.

By the end

You will be able to

Model Cassandra tables from query patterns using bounded partitions, correct partition/clustering keys, denormalization, and explicit consistency requirements
Explain and diagnose the write path, read path, commit log, memtables, SSTables, caches, compaction, tombstones, repair, and replication
Use CQL, lightweight transactions, batches, counters, SAI, vector search, drivers, paging, retries, and idempotency with product-specific semantics
Operate clusters through bootstrap, replacement, decommission, repair, snapshots, restore, security, monitoring, guardrails, capacity planning, upgrades, and multi-DC events
Build and defend a production Cassandra architecture with measured latency, failure drills, bounded partitions, repair strategy, recovery objectives, and operational runbooks

Complete syllabus

27 chapters · 135 lessons.

Every lesson path was reserved in the planned syllabus and is now linked because its lesson HTML is available. The sequence moves from foundations through advanced implementation, architecture, operations, reliability, security, tuning, and a production capstone.

Chapter 1

Cassandra Foundations, Version 5.0, Architecture, and Lab Setup

5 lessons

What Cassandra Is: Distributed Wide-Column Storage, Availability Goals, and Workload FitPublished lesson · Chapter01/Lesson1.html

Apache Cassandra

Design the partition model first; everything operational flows from it.

You will be able to

27 chapters · 135 lessons.

Cassandra Foundations, Version 5.0, Architecture, and Lab Setup

Clusters, Datacenters, Racks, Snitches, Gossip, and Failure Detection

Partitioners, Tokens, Vnodes, Token Rings, and Data Distribution

Keyspaces, Replication Strategies, Replication Factor, and Placement

CQL Foundations: DDL, DML, Filtering Rules, and cqlsh Workflows

Query-First Data Modeling and Denormalization

Primary Keys, Partition Keys, Clustering Columns, and Ordering

CQL Data Types, Collections, Tuples, UDTs, Static Columns, and Frozen Values

The Write Path: Coordinator, Commit Log, Memtables, Replicas, and Acknowledgment

The Read Path: Bloom Filters, Indexes, SSTables, Caches, Merging, and Reconciliation

SSTables and On-Disk Storage Internals

Compaction Strategies and Storage Amplification

Tombstones, TTL, gc_grace, Deletes, and Expiration

Consistency Levels, Quorums, Availability, and Client Guarantees

Failure Handling: Hints, Read Repair, Speculative Retry, Timeouts, and Unavailable Errors

Lightweight Transactions, Paxos, CAS, and Linearizable Conditional Updates

Batches, Counters, Idempotency, and Write Coordination

Secondary Indexing with Storage-Attached Indexing (SAI)

Vector Search in Cassandra 5.0

Materialized Views and Derived-Table Alternatives

Drivers, Prepared Statements, Token Awareness, Paging, Retries, and Load Balancing

Configuration, cqlsh, nodetool, Dynamic Settings, and Operational Tooling

Node Lifecycle: Bootstrap, Replace, Decommission, Remove, Rebuild, and Cleanup

Repair, Anti-Entropy, Incremental/Full Strategies, and Data Convergence

Snapshots, Backups, Commitlog Archiving, Restore, and Disaster Recovery

Security: Authentication, Authorization, Roles, TLS, and Secrets

Observability, Performance, Capacity, Guardrails, Upgrades, Multi-DC Resilience, and Capstone