Cassandra for Developers - Bespoke

• comfortable with Java programming language
• comfortable in Linux environment (navigating command line, editing files with vi / nano)

Lab environment:

A working Cassandra environment will be provided for students. Students would need an SSH client and a browser to access the cluster.

Zero Install : There is no need to install Cassandra on students’ machines!

This course will introduce Cassandra –  a popular NoSQL database.  It will cover Cassandra principles, architecture and data model.   Students will learn data modeling  in CQL (Cassandra Query Language) in hands-on, interactive labs.  This session also discusses Cassandra internals and some admin topics.

Duration : 3 days

Audience : Developers

• Section 1: Introduction to Big Data / NoSQL
  • NoSQL overview
  • CAP theorem
  • When is NoSQL appropriate
  • Columnar storage
  • NoSQL ecosystem
• Section 2 : Cassandra Basics
  • Design and architecture
  • Cassandra nodes, clusters, datacenters
  • Keyspaces, tables, rows and columns
  • Partitioning, replication, tokens
  • Quorum and consistency levels
  • Labs : interacting with cassandra using CQLSH
• Section 3: Data Modeling – part 1
  • introduction to CQL
  • CQL Datatypes
  • creating keyspaces & tables
  • Choosing columns and types
  • Choosing primary keys
  • Data layout for rows and columns
  • Time to live (TTL)
  • Querying with CQL
  • CQL updates
  • Collections (list / map / set)
  • Labs : various data modeling exercises using CQL ; experimenting with queries and supported data types
• Section 4: Data Modeling – part 2
  • Creating and using secondary indexes
  • composite keys (partition keys and clustering keys)
  • Time series data
  • Best practices for time series data
  • Counters
  • Lightweight transactions (LWT)
  • Labs : creating and using indexes;  modeling time series data
• Section 5 : Data Modeling Labs  : Group design session
  • multiple use cases from various domains are presented
  • students work in groups to come up designs and models
  • discuss various designs, analyze decisions
  • Lab : implement one of the scenario
• Section 6: Cassandra drivers
  • Introduction to Java driver
  • CRUD (Create / Read / Update, Delete) operations using Java client
  • Asynchronous queries
  • Labs : using Java API for Cassandra
• Section 7 : Cassandra Internals
  • understand Cassandra design under the hood
  • sstables, memtables, commit log
  • read path / write path
  • caching
  • vnodes
• Section 8: Administration
  • Hardware selection
  • Cassandra distributions
  • Installing Cassandra
  • Running benchmarks
  • Tooling for monitoring performance and node activities
    • DataStax OpsCenter
  • Diagnosting Cassandra performance issues
  • Investigating a node crash
  • Understanding data repair, deletion and replication
  • Other troubleshooting tools and tips
  • Cassandra best practices (compaction, garbage collection,)
• Section 9:  Bonus Lab (time permitting)
  • Implement a music service like Pandora / Spotify on Cassandra