Deploy Cassandra on a Google Axion C4A virtual machine
Introduction
Get started with Cassandra on Google Axion C4A
Create a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine
Install Apache Cassandra
Test Cassandra baseline functionality
Benchmark Cassandra performance
Next Steps

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About this Learning Path

Skill level:  Introductory
Reading time:  30 min
Last updated:  01 Jul 2026
Skill level:
  Introductory
Reading time:
  30 min
Last updated:
  01 Jul 2026
Author:Pareena Verma, Arm
Arm IP:Neoverse
Tags: Databases Google Cloud Linux Apache Cassandra Java cqlsh cassandra-stress
Author:
  • Pareena Verma, Arm
Arm IP:
Neoverse
Tags:
Databases Google Cloud Linux Apache Cassandra Java cqlsh cassandra-stress

Who is this for?

This is an introductory topic for software developers migrating Cassandra workloads from x86_64 to Arm-based servers, specifically on Google Cloud C4A virtual machines built on Axion processors.

What will you learn?

Upon completion of this Learning Path, you will be able to:

  • Provision an Arm-based SUSE SLES virtual machine on Google Cloud (C4A with Axion processors)
  • Install and configure Apache Cassandra on a SUSE Arm64 (C4A) instance
  • Validate Cassandra functionality using CQLSH and baseline keyspace/table operations
  • Benchmark Cassandra performance using cassandra-stress for read and write workloads on Arm64 (Aarch64) architecture

Prerequisites

Before starting, you will need the following:

Summary

AI-assisted

This summary was drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.

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You’ll deploy Apache Cassandra on Arm-based Google Cloud Axion C4A virtual machines and validate a working baseline before running sample workload tests. First, you’ll create a c4a-standard-4 instance in the Google Cloud console and install Cassandra on Ubuntu or SUSE. Then, you’ll start Cassandra as a background service, with logs tailed to confirm “Startup complete,” followed by nodetool status to verify the node state. By the end, you’ll benchmark using the built-in cassandra-stress utility to exercise write, read, and mixed operations on Arm to confirm Cassandra is operating correctly.

Frequently asked questions

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These FAQs were drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.

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Which Google Cloud machine type should I choose for this setup?
Select the c4a-standard-4 machine type (4 vCPUs, 16 GB memory) when creating the VM. This aligns with the example in the provisioning step.
How do I start Cassandra and confirm it is ready?
Start Cassandra with cassandra -R to run it in the background. Tail ~/cassandra/logs/system.log and wait for the “Startup complete” message, then use nodetool status to check the node state.
What should I check in nodetool status before continuing?
Verify that nodetool status returns the node’s status and cluster information. Use this as a quick check that the service is responding before running any benchmarks.
Where is `cassandra-stress` located and how can I verify it’s installed?
cassandra-stress is in the tools/bin directory of your Cassandra installation. List the directory and confirm it appears, for example with ls ~/cassandra/tools/bin | grep cassandra-stress.
Which Java version does the installation use in this guide?
Cassandra requires a Java runtime. The example uses Java 17.
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