March 2020 Summaries

DataStax has released a version of a Kubernetes Operator for Apache Cassandra under an Apache License, aiming to standardize infrastructure management around Kubernetes. The move follows the realization that managing data plane should also be managed under the same umbrella. DataStax is also releasing a Management API sidecar for Cassandra and has started the conversation of donating components to the Apache Cassandra project. The company encourages community participation in developing a community-driven operator, with input from diverse experience valuable.

Sam Ramji, currently the Chief Strategy Officer at DataStax, has had a diverse and extensive career spanning over two decades. He has worked with Microsoft, where he directly collaborated with Bill Gates on open-source initiatives, leading to the launch of The Outercurve Foundation. Additionally, Sam held executive positions at Apigee, Google, Autodesk, and Cloud Foundry Foundation. Recently, he engaged in a captivating conversation with Jeff Carpenter, hosted by DataStax's podcast, "The Distributed Data Show." This discussion covered various topics and was so engaging that it spanned two episodes.

The blog post discusses how DataStax adapted their developer relations approach in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation of in-person events. They shifted to online-only content, using platforms like Discord for live troubleshooting breakout rooms and MEE6 bot for managing student interactions. They also leveraged social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for promotion, Meetup groups for maintaining connections with existing audiences, and Eventbrite for reaching new audiences. The post emphasizes the importance of adapting to virtual events while continuing to engage communities during challenging times.

DataStax has open-sourced its internal testing tool, dsbench, under a new project called NoSQLBench. This modular and extensible platform is designed to work with any type of driver and aims to provide a quantum leap in testing capabilities for the Apache Cassandra community. Currently used by engineers and customers alike for performance testing, data model design, and sizing and deployment of new clusters, DataStax encourages contributions from the NoSQL community to help build the next generation of NoSQL testing capabilities together. The toolkit is primarily motivated by experiences within DataStax but can be used by Apache Cassandra developers as well.

DataStax is launching "Accelerate: A NoSQL Original Series," a digital experience featuring success stories with NoSQL and Apache Cassandra™. The first season premieres on May 12, offering weekly livestream keynotes and on-demand episodes. Learn about the open-source, active-everywhere NoSQL database that powers major applications worldwide. Join leading global enterprises and top Cassandra users in this digital experience. Sign up now!

In this tutorial, we will configure an Express backend server on Node.js for Better Botz's online ordering application using a DataStax Astra database. We will install Node.js and the DataStax Node.js driver, download the secure connect bundle for your Astra database, and then configure the driver to use that bundle when connecting to your Astra database. After establishing that connection, we can use the Node.js driver as our conduit for getting data in and out of the database. We will also create a barebones project to work from, modify the layout.jade template, and review results in a browser to ensure that the server is working. In the next post, we'll add data to the orders table and create a new table to track which orders are shipping and which have already shipped.

Data management is crucial in hybrid cloud projects to prevent the creation of data silos. Developing a data management strategy helps maintain synchronization between applications and databases. Using microservices that perform CRUD operations on existing databases can avoid creating new data silos. DataStax Enterprise (DSE) offers a masterless architecture, eliminating data silos and accelerating hybrid and multi-cloud application deployments. DSE ensures data security with advanced authentication, authorization, encryption, and auditing mechanisms. Monitoring distributed databases in a single view is facilitated by the DSE Metrics Collector and visual management tools like DataStax OpsCenter. Overall, DSE enables enterprises to fully exploit hybrid and multi-cloud environments without rearchitecting cloud applications.

Hybrid and multi-cloud computing environments combine infrastructure from multiple platforms and data centers, offering benefits such as avoiding vendor lock-in, mitigating entire cloud outages, and increased agility in development cycles. DataStax Enterprise (DSE) can play a significant role in achieving these benefits. Common success patterns for moving to hybrid or multi-cloud include using DSE as a single distributed database spanning multiple clouds accessed through one API, leveraging an active everywhere architecture with no single point of failure, and ensuring multiple paths for connections between microservices, applications, and data.

Machine learning (ML) is revolutionizing decision-making processes in organizations across all sectors by accelerating innovation, reducing risks, and improving user experiences. ML involves feeding data into algorithms to make better decisions without directly programming knowledge into computers. It is being used for forecasting, detecting aberrations, classification, recommendation engines, navigation, and more. To support machine learning initiatives, strong technologies like Apache Cassandra® and Apache Spark™ are essential. Cassandra provides a high-availability, high-performance database with predictable linear scalability, while Spark is a fast in-memory data processing framework for large volumes of distributed data. Together, they offer the robust infrastructure needed to unlock the potential of machine learning.

The whitepaper "Managing the Hybrid and MultiCloud Future" by DataStax outlines nine ways to navigate the complexities of hybrid cloud environments. With cloud computing evolving from a point-to-point service to an intricate fabric, data managers must ensure proper governance and accessibility across increasingly complex systems. The survey conducted by Unisphere Research reveals that 75% of database managers prefer a hybrid cloud architecture with both on-premise and public cloud components. Hybrid clouds are different from multi-cloud implementations, as the former combines public cloud services with on-premise systems in an integrated manner, while the latter involves employing multiple providers for specific workloads. The whitepaper highlights key considerations such as data governance, security, understanding usage patterns and costs, ensuring seamless integration of data across environments, leveraging self-service applications, and tracking resource consumption and spending. As hybrid and multi-cloud environments become more commonplace, data management becomes a shared responsibility, but data governance and security remain the ultimate responsibility of the enterprise.

DataStax has decided to cancel its Accelerate 2020 conferences in San Diego and London due to growing concerns around COVID-19. The company is exploring ways to deliver the event through webinars and online sessions, aiming for an interactive experience. Attendees who have already purchased passes will receive refunds by March 9th, 2020. DataStax encourages participants to join them on their new online platform and will provide updates on their Accelerate website.

The world's largest Apache Cassandra NoSQL event, Accelerate 2020, is set to take place in San Diego (May 11-13) and London (June 2-3). Kicking off with a Workshop Day prior to the conferences, participants can choose from two all-day workshops. DataStax engineers will guide attendees through building a fully functional NoSQL application on Apache Cassandra, while operationally focused DBAs will gain practical experience in deploying and optimizing Cassandra databases in multi-cloud environments. Accelerate offers an opportunity to learn about the benefits of NoSQL for modern enterprise applications and its similarities to and differences from relational models. Spots are limited, so register early for DataStax Accelerate San Diego and London to take advantage of early bird prices.

Better Botz is a company that believes robots can improve human health, prosperity, and wellbeing. They offer robot kits for building personal care or business-oriented robots. The company needs an online ordering application to replace their current platform. In this post, the author guides through creating a database using DataStax Astra and two crucial tables: Products and Orders. The author also demonstrates how to insert data into these tables and retrieve specific records. Future posts will expand on the application by adding more data and integrating Node.js and Express.

FamilySearch, a nonprofit genealogical society affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, uses Apache Cassandra™ to help users learn more about their families' histories. The organization has three main use cases for Cassandra: enabling users to access information about their families and collaborate with other family tree researchers; facilitating a hinting app that guides people to additional research resources; and helping researchers track down records related to their ancestors based on specific qualifiers. FamilySearch processes millions of reads/second and writes/second, making it an excellent example of how Cassandra can be used at scale for large-scale family history research.

The Last Pickle (TLP), a company specializing in Apache Cassandra consulting, has been acquired by DataStax. TLP was founded by Aaron Morton in 2011 and has grown to have a significant impact on the world of database technology. With this acquisition, TLP aims to make open source Apache Cassandra easier to use at any scale and more accessible for developers worldwide. The company's commitment to providing excellent technical support and resources to its customers and the open-source community remains unchanged.

NTT DATA has partnered with DataStax for its iQuattro solution, which optimizes manufacturing processes using Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) data. The iQuattro solution utilizes DataStax Enterprise as the database of choice for its business collaboration platform. Enterprises adopting cloud computing for new IIoT services require databases that are architected to run natively in the cloud, and DataStax enables iQuattro to manage IIoT data at velocity while offering high availability, linear scale, low-latency, and predictable performance. The solution eliminates data silos and cross-correlates sensor data for advanced analytics and machine learning to drive business outcomes. Built with masterless architecture, Cassandra and DSE can operate at unlimited scale, are continuously available, and have no single point of failure.

The research discusses governance challenges in a multicloud and intercloud world, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing these implications to prevent failure or loss of control. It covers data management and financial governance issues associated with cloud adoption. Organizations adopting multicloud architectures must transform in IT service brokering, governance, architecture, and operations. The research helps I&O professionals analyze alternatives and highlights the strengths of each approach. Data and analytics leaders using cloud-based solutions often face cost overruns, necessitating a comprehensive approach to predictable budgeting for cloud data management environments. Reinforcing governance is crucial to preserve trust in assets; otherwise, cloud investments will fail. The landscape of cloud adoption is one of hybrid clouds and multiclouds, with product managers at cloud service providers needing to address this trend to ensure their offerings remain competitive. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market challengers are beginning to use cross-cloud standards and multicloud messaging to compete with market share leaders. Cloud management platforms must include cloud service brokerage functionality in their strategy to remain competitive. The definitions of hybrid cloud, multicloud, and intercloud architectures are articulated, providing a full taxonomy for these terms.