Cassandra Drivers¶
Cassandra drivers provide the interface between applications and the Cassandra cluster. Unlike traditional database connectors, Cassandra drivers are topology-aware—they maintain knowledge of all nodes in the cluster and make intelligent decisions about request routing, connection management, and failure handling.
Architecture Overview¶
Asynchronous Protocol¶
Cassandra uses the CQL Native Protocol, a binary protocol designed for high-throughput asynchronous communication. Key characteristics:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Multiplexed connections | Multiple concurrent requests share a single TCP connection |
| Stream IDs | Each request tagged with ID; responses matched asynchronously |
| Non-blocking I/O | Underlying network I/O is non-blocking; synchronous API wrappers may block caller threads |
| Configurable concurrency | Limit in-flight requests per connection (driver and version-specific defaults) |
Responses return in completion order, not request order. A single TCP connection handles thousands of concurrent requests.
This design allows a single connection to handle thousands of concurrent requests without thread-per-request overhead. Applications benefit from:
- Efficient resource usage — Few connections support high throughput
- Natural back-pressure — When stream IDs exhaust, driver queues or rejects requests
- Simplified connection pooling — Fewer connections to manage and monitor
Cluster Metadata¶
The driver maintains a live view of cluster topology:
The driver discovers this information through:
- Control connection — Dedicated connection to one node for metadata queries
- System tables — Queries
system.local,system.peers,system_schema.* - Event subscription — Receives push notifications for topology and schema changes
This metadata enables token-aware routing (sending requests directly to replica nodes) and informed load balancing decisions.
Connection Pooling¶
Each driver maintains connection pools to cluster nodes:
Pool configuration parameters:
| Parameter | Description | Typical Default |
|---|---|---|
| Connections per host | Connections maintained per node (Java 4.x: fixed size; other drivers may have min/max) | 1 |
| Max requests per connection | Concurrent in-flight requests per connection | 2048 (Java 4.x) |
| Heartbeat interval | Frequency of idle connection health checks | 30 seconds |
Request Lifecycle¶
A typical request flows through these stages:
Available Drivers¶
Official and community-maintained drivers exist for most languages:
| Language | Driver | Maintainer | Repository |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java | Apache Cassandra Java Driver | Apache | cassandra-java-driver |
| Python | Apache Cassandra Python Driver | Apache | cassandra-python-driver |
| Node.js | DataStax Node.js Driver | DataStax | nodejs-driver |
| C# | DataStax C# Driver | DataStax | csharp-driver |
| Go | GoCQL Driver | Community (Apache donation in progress) | gocql |
| Rust | ScyllaDB Rust Driver | ScyllaDB | scylla-rust-driver |
| C/C++ | Apache Cassandra C++ Driver | Apache | cassandra-cpp-driver |
All major drivers implement similar concepts (policies, connection pooling, prepared statements) though APIs and configuration details vary.
Section Contents¶
- Connection Management — Connection lifecycle, pooling, and health monitoring
- Policies — Load balancing, retry, reconnection, and speculative execution
- Prepared Statements — Efficient query execution with prepared statements
- Best Practices — Production configuration recommendations