About K8ssandra, Apache Cassandra® on Kubernetes
K8ssandra is a cloud-native distribution of Apache Cassandra® that runs on Kubernetes. Accompanying Cassandra is an ecosystem of tools to provide richer data APIs and automated operations. This includes observability / metrics monitoring, data anti-entropy services, and backup / restore tools. 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.
Are you ready to explore modernizing your data platform on Kubernetes? Check out our getting started guide and take the first steps in your journey.
What is K8ssandra?
K8ssandra is a cloud native distribution of Apache Cassandra® that runs on Kubernetes. 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.
Is K8ssandra a paid product?
As an open-source project licensed under Apache Software License version 2, K8ssandra is free to use, improve, and enjoy.
How should I pronounce “K8ssandra”?
Any way you want! Many of the team members pronounce it as “Kate” + “Sandra”.
What does K8ssandra include?
At a pure component level, K8ssandra integrates and packages together:
- 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
Why should I use K8ssandra?
K8ssandra provides a rock-solid platform for dependable data in Kubernetes. From high availability to blistering performance, it composes well with your cloud native applications. K8ssandra contributor Jeff Carpenter took a detailed look at this exact question in his blog post “Why K8ssandra?“.
Should I run my database in Kubernetes?
Kubernetes began as a great place to run stateless workloads, but stateful options for databases were initially limited, given a rapidly evolving landscape of native resources and storage implementations. K8ssandra contributor Christopher Bradford tackled discussions around the evolution of foundational components for stateful workloads and the proliferation of availability-focused databases in an article on The New Stack. The conclusion? That Kubernetes is a solid platform for deploying distributed databases, and that K8ssandra represents a best-in-class distribution in that space.