Spark, File Transfer, and More ScyllaDB or Cassandra Data Migration Strategies

Peter Corless's blog post discusses various strategies and tools for migrating data to and from Cassandra or ScyllaDB clusters, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right approach based on specific use cases. The article covers both online and offline data migration techniques, highlighting the complexities and considerations involved, such as schema modifications and data validation. Offline migrations allow for downtime, simplifying the process, while online migrations require dual writes to both old and new systems, maintaining operational continuity. The blog introduces multiple methods for existing data migration, including CQL COPY for loading data from CSV files, SSTableloader for bulk loading from disk-compatible databases, and Mirror Loader for creating temporary clusters to facilitate fast data transfer. The ScyllaDB Spark Migrator is presented as a robust option for streaming data between CQL-compatible databases, offering resilience to failures and the ability to preserve timestamps and schema changes. Throughout the discussion, Dan Yasny, a Field Engineer at ScyllaDB, provides insights on the practical aspects of data migration, emphasizing the need to carefully manage resources and system load during the process.