Can I use Apache Cassandra with Azure?
Yes, you can use Apache Cassandra on Azure. Cassandra is available on Azure fully-managed through Astra DB, or self-managed via Azure Quick Start.
Apache Cassandra(®) is a leading NoSQL database, enabling developers to build massively scalable, geo-distributed data applications with zero downtime. Cassandra is the database of choice for the most demanding applications on the internet including Netflix, Uber, Pinterest and thousands of the world’s leading engineering teams.
This guide will help you understand the best managed and self-managed ways to run Cassandra on Azure.
Three ways to run Cassandra on Azure
Managed Service: Using Astra DB on Azure
The fastest way to use Cassandra on Azure is with Astra DB, a database-as-a-service built on Cassandra, Kubernetes, Prometheus, Envoy, and other cutting-edge open source. Astra DB simplifies cloud-native application development and requires no operations or self-management. It reduces deployment time from weeks to minutes, delivering an unprecedented combination of serverless autoscaling, pay-as-you-go pricing, and an open source skillset you can take with you to any cloud provider. How does Astra DB make running on Azure easy?
Why Astra DB?
Global ScaleNo OperationsDBaaS as APIsDeveloper ProductivityEnterprise Security
- Scale-up to petabytes of data without impacting performance
- Colocate data and applications anywhere in the world - without compromising performance, availability, or accessibility
- Database can be replicated across multiple data centers, availability zones, even multi-region - no leader/follower troubleshooting headaches
- Compute and storage are separated enabling apps to scale cost effectively or scale down to zero automatically
- Tunable consistency can adjust the tradeoff between availability and consistency of data on Cassandra nodes
- True serverless autoscaling eliminates manual configuration changes and guesswork on database sizing
- Deploy in 5 minutes or less: no provisioning, install, or configuration
- Fully managed database and OS updates and upgrades
- Operate in any of Astra’s globally available Azure regions and availability zones
- IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) failures handled gracefully by K8s operator to keep databases healthy
- High availability from automatic self-healing at the database level
- Fault Tolerance automatically replicates data to multiple nodes and across multiple data centers to create high fault tolerance and ensure zero data loss.
- Single region deployments with a 99.9% SLA with and 99.99% SLA for multi-region minimize both downtime and the need for site-reliability engineering
- Automated anti-entropy repair procedures
- Automated hourly backup, with snapshot storage for 20 days
- Integrated Grafana monitoring system to provide accurate and up to date measurement information about health and performance
- Skip defining the schema upfront, use Astra DB like a JSON Document store using the Document API
- Go schema-first with familiar REST, GraphQL, gRPC APIs and ramp up quickly
- Drive adoption of cloud-native architectures using a microservices and API first approach
- Absolutely no low-level Azure infrastructure knowledge required to deploy: name your database and keyspace, then select a region and you are done
- Robust, cloud-enabled language drivers in all major programming languages
- JDBC/ODBC drivers for BI and other tool integration
- Popular framework integrations (Spring Boot, Spring Data, Quarkus, and more)
- Spark Cassandra Connector
- Built in CQLSH console
- Postman Collection for Astra DB APIs
- DevOps API, Terraform Provider, Ansible Playbook for CI/CD pipeline automation
- Astra DB Data Explorer JetBrains IDE Plugin
- Achieve data sovereignty without replication headaches with multi-region deployments
- SOC2 Compliance
- Sophisticated authentication and authorization with role based access
- Client connections use two-way certificate validation for VPN-level security from client to database (mTLS).
- All data is encrypted at rest and in motion
- Azure Private Link connectivity connects apps in your VPC to Astra DB
- JSON web token(JWT) based authentication to ensure secure connectivity to your Astra DB database
Get Started with Astra DB on Azure
Simply register here with Github, Google ID or email and get 80 GB storage and up to 20M read/write ops free every month. No credit card is required for the free plan.
Self Managed Service: Cassandra on Azure VMs
Some IT organizations require complete control over their systems, or are already setup for self-managed software. With self-managed virtual machines you have that control. This control comes with all the associated effort and expense, and is a tradeoff that should be considered carefully.
Get Started with Cassandra on Azure VMs
Self Managed Service: K8ssandra on AKS
K8ssandra is a cloud native distribution of Apache Cassandra® that runs on Kubernetes and AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service). K8ssandra provides an ecosystem of tools to provide richer data APIs and automated operations alongside Cassandra. This includes metrics monitoring to promote observability, data anti-entropy services to support reliability, and backup / restore tools to support high availability and disaster recovery. As part of K8ssandra’s installation process, all of these components are installed and wired together, freeing you from having to perform the tedious plumbing of components like:
- Apache Cassandra
- Stargate, the open-source data gateway
- Cass-operator, the Kubernetes Operator for Apache Cassandra
- Reaper for Apache Cassandra, an anti-entropy repair feature (plus reaper-operator)
- Medusa for Apache Cassandra for backup and restore (plus medusa-operator)
- Metrics Collector for Apache Cassandra, with Prometheus integration, and visualization via pre-configured Grafana dashboards
Get Started with K8ssandra on AKS
Learn more about setup for Azure AKS in the K8ssandra documentation.
Which one is the most efficient way of running Cassandra on Azure?
This answer depends on your requirements, your existing investments, your staff and their skills - a host of factors.
In general, we recommend Astra DB for the vast majority of Cassandra use cases. You can be ready to go in minutes, freed from operational, security and scalability concerns.
All but the most demanding, security-conscious applications will be served by environments like Astra DB that are already compliant to common security standards, saving months or even years of effort, to say nothing of expense.
Startups and enterprises alike who do not want to, or cannot, dive deep into database administration and configuration, should opt for Astra DB.
Self-managing databases on Kubernetes is less efficient than DBaaS, but may be driven by preexisting organizational proficiency with Kubernetes. K8s managed services like Azure GKE and K8ssandra not only make running system-of-engagement databases on Kubernetes possible but can significantly ease the burden on SRE/Ops teams.
Self managing IaaS is the least efficient option relative to DBaaS, but may be driven by a need to self-manage for regulatory reasons or the need to interoperate with proprietary or custom systems. Alternatively, a self-managed IaaS may involve the nature of an existing application, being migrated to the cloud. Your application may simply not require, or be ready for, a cloud-native architecture.
FAQ
How do I run Cassandra on Azure?
To deploy Cassandra on Azure, you can either:
- Set up a new cluster on Astra DB or migrate an existing self-managed Cassandra deployment to Azure.
- Use the Azure Quick Start to build a new self-managed Cassandra cluster yourself.
How do I access Cassandra on Azure?
Once you have deployed your Cassandra cluster on Azure, either by using Astra DB or creating a self-managed cluster, use the cluster’s connection string to access either from the command line, or through a Cassandra driver in your language of choice.
Is Astra DB Free on Azure?
Astra DB has a free tier of $25 free credits monthly giving developers up to 80 gigabytes of free storage or up to 20 million read/writes each month. Astra DB is serverless so that you are only billed for what you use. If you’re managing your own cluster, your Azure pricing for the resources it uses will apply.
What is DataStax Astra DB?
Astra DB is a fully managed, serverless, multi-cloud database as a service powered by Apache Cassandra(®).
Can I buy Astra DB on Azure Marketplace?
Yes, Astra DB is available on Azure Marketplace. There are no minimums and no upfront commitment required; your Astra DB cost will be billed to your Azure account.
Features of Astra DB managed Cassandra on Azure
Serverless Database Built on Apache Cassandra®
Scale database resources in and out on demand to match application requirements and traffic so that you pay only for what you use. Put the power of Cassandra in the hands of every developer without ever worrying about managing the infrastructure.
Global Scale
Data replication across multiple data centers, availability zones, and multi-region. Scale-up to petabytes of data without impacting performance. The Astra service is resilient and highly available to minimize both downtime and the need for site-reliability engineering.
Enterprise Security
All data is encrypted at rest and in motion. Sophisticated authentication and authorization with role based access. Client connections use two-way certificate validation for VPN-level security from client to database. Private connectivity options like VPC peering upon request. JSON web token(JWT) based authentication to ensure secure connectivity to your Astra DB database.
No Operations
Fully managed database and OS updates and upgrades. IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) failures handled gracefully by K8s operator to keep databases healthy. Eliminate anti-entropy repair procedures. Auto scaling eliminates manual configuration changes and guesswork on database sizing.