Cassandra Essentials: Nosql Distributed Data For Developers

Master Cassandra & NoSQL fundamentals — covering architecture, replication, data modeling, and consistency.

What you'll learn

Master Cassandra’s fault-tolerant, masterless architecture.

Learn replication strategies that balance consistency and performance.

Design data models using partition and clustering keys for lightning-fast reads.

Understand token rings to distribute data evenly and eliminate single points of failure.

Optimize your app’s write speed and read efficiency with Cassandra’s unique storage engine.

Scale out seamlessly as data grows—add or remove nodes without downtime.

Master CQL syntax, data types, and collections to store complex data structures easily.

Install Cassandra locally or in the cloud, and configure it for production workloads.

Automate failover with built-in replication across data centers for global resilience.

Integrate Cassandra into Java or other apps using official drivers and best practices.

Leverage read repair and tunable consistency to maintain data integrity at scale.

Ace interviews by showcasing your expertise in modern distributed databases and NoSQL.

Requirements

Basic familiarity with database concepts (e.g., primary keys, queries)

Comfort using a command-line interface (Windows, macOS, or Linux)

Access to a computer where you can install Apache Cassandra and Java

(Optional) Some experience in writing or running simple SQL queries

Description

Dive into the world of Apache Cassandra—one of the most powerful and popular NoSQL databases trusted by tech giants for mission-critical workloads. This course takes you beyond the basics of relational databases, unveiling how Cassandra’s ring-based architecture and fault-tolerant design eliminate bottlenecks and single points of failure. You’ll explore how to replicate data across multiple nodes—and even across different data centers—so your applications can stay online even when hardware or network disruptions occur.Through a blend of theory and hands-on demonstrations, you’ll master Cassandra’s data modeling best practices—using partition keys, clustering columns, and denormalization to create schemas perfectly tailored for high-speed writes and large-scale reads. You’ll also learn how Cassandra balances performance and correctness with tunable consistency, giving you control over just how “up-to-date” your data needs to be in any given query. And you’ll see how practical features like TimeUUIDs, collections, and secondary indexes fit into real-world use cases.By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills to set up your own Cassandra cluster, craft your data models, and confidently run CQL queries. Whether you’re building a global application with millions of users or simply want a deeper understanding of distributed databases, this course will equip you with the knowledge and hands-on experience to harness Cassandra’s speed, resilience, and scalability in your next project.

Overview

Section 1: Welcome

Lecture 1 Introduction

Section 2: ACID, CAP theorem and relational databases

Lecture 2 Characteristics of Relational-Databases

Lecture 3 ACID properties explained

Lecture 4 Scaling a relational database

Lecture 5 Two phase commit

Lecture 6 CAP theorem explained

Lecture 7 Choosing between consistency and availability

Lecture 8 Audience Q&A

Lecture 9 Unit Recap

Section 3: Introducing Cassandra

Lecture 10 What is Cassandra?

Lecture 11 When to use Cassandra?

Lecture 12 Installing Cassandra

Lecture 13 Basic CQL Commands - Part 1

Lecture 14 Basic CQL Commands - Part 2

Section 4: How Cassandra Works

Lecture 15 Learning Cassandra internals

Lecture 16 Characteristics of Cassandra

Lecture 17 Understanding replication

Lecture 18 Understanding consistency

Section 5: Learning Cassandra's Data Model

Lecture 19 Tables in Cassandra

Lecture 20 Partitions in Cassandra

Lecture 21 Understanding the partition key

Lecture 22 Primary keys vs Partition keys

Lecture 23 Clustering columns

Lecture 24 Cassandra keys demo

Lecture 25 Implications of partitioning

Lecture 26 Data types

Lecture 27 UUID

Lecture 28 Data types hands on

Lecture 29 TimeUUID

Lecture 30 Collection types

Section 6: Cassandra Internals

Lecture 31 Cassandra architecture

Lecture 32 Partition key ring

Lecture 33 How scaling works

Lecture 34 How replication works

Lecture 35 Tunable consistency levels

Lecture 36 Read consistency and read repairs

Lecture 37 Understanding consistency levels and quorum

Lecture 38 Consistency levels for multiple data centers

Lecture 39 Gossip

Lecture 40 Understanding write path

Lecture 41 Understanding read path

Lecture 42 Read and write path observations

Section 7: Conclusion

Lecture 43 Sample Java code

Lecture 44 Wrap up and next steps

Developers and architects seeking a robust, highly available database solution for large-scale applications.,Data engineers and DBAs transitioning from relational systems who want to understand Cassandra’s core concepts.,Anyone looking for a hands-on introduction to distributed NoSQL databases with a focus on performance and fault tolerance.