Cassandra Cloud Deployment Guide

This guide covers deploying and operating Apache Cassandra in cloud environments.

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Storage Strategy

Before selecting cloud platforms and instance types, understand the fundamental storage decision:

Storage Type	Cost	Performance	Durability	Operations
Ephemeral	Included	Lowest latency	Requires RF=3+ backup	Immutable infrastructure
Persistent	Additional	Good	Native snapshots	In-place patching

→ Storage Strategy Guide - Complete analysis of ephemeral vs persistent storage, cost models, patching strategies, and backup solutions

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Cloud Platforms

Platform	Guide	Key Features
AWS	Amazon Web Services	EC2, EBS, Multi-AZ
GCP	Google Cloud Platform	GCE, Persistent Disks
Azure	Microsoft Azure	VMs, Managed Disks
Kubernetes	Container orchestration	Operators, StatefulSets

Cloud Considerations

Instance Selection

Workload	AWS	GCP	Azure
Development	m5.large	n2-standard-2	Standard_D2s_v3
Production	i3.2xlarge	n2-highmem-8	Standard_L8s_v2
High Performance	i3en.3xlarge	n2-highmem-16	Standard_L16s_v2

Storage Options

Recommended storage types:
- AWS: io2 or gp3 EBS, i3 NVMe
- GCP: pd-ssd, local SSD
- Azure: Premium SSD, Ultra Disk

Requirements:
- IOPS: 3000+ for production
- Throughput: 125+ MB/s
- Latency: < 1ms

Network Configuration

# Security group rules (AWS example)
Inbound:
  - Port 9042: Client connections (CQL)
  - Port 7000: Inter-node communication
  - Port 7001: Inter-node SSL
  - Port 7199: JMX monitoring

Outbound:
  - All traffic to cluster nodes

Multi-Region Deployment

Best Practices

High Availability

• Deploy across 3+ availability zones
• Use RF=3 minimum per region
• Configure proper snitch for cloud
• Enable rack awareness

Cost Optimization

• Use reserved instances for stable workloads
• Right-size instances based on actual usage
• Consider spot instances for non-critical workloads
• Monitor and optimize storage

Security

• Use VPCs/VNets for network isolation
• Enable encryption at rest and in transit
• Use IAM roles instead of credentials
• Regular security audits

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Next Steps

• AWS Deployment - AWS-specific guide
• Kubernetes - Container deployment