This guide shows you how to install Apache Cassandra on an Ubuntu or SUSE Linux virtual machine. Cassandra is a highly scalable NoSQL database designed for high availability and fault tolerance.
sudo apt update
sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper update -y
Cassandra requires a Java runtime environment. This example uses Java 17 for optimal performance and compatibility with Cassandra 5.0.5.
sudo apt install -y openjdk-17-jdk
sudo zypper install -y java-17-openjdk java-17-openjdk-devel
wget https://downloads.apache.org/cassandra/5.0.5/apache-cassandra-5.0.5-bin.tar.gz
Apache Cassandra 5.0 is a major release introducing significant performance, usability, and scalability enhancements. Key features include Storage Attached Indexes (SAI) for flexible querying, Trie-based memtables/SSTables for better efficiency, and the Unified Compaction Strategy (UCS) for automated data management. It also supports JDK 17 for up to 20% performance gains and adds vector search for AI applications. The release marks the end-of-life for the 3.x series, urging users to upgrade for continued support. To learn more, see the Apache Cassandra 5.0 announcement .
The Arm Ecosystem Dashboard recommends Cassandra version 5.0.0 as the minimum recommended on Arm platforms.
tar -xvzf apache-cassandra-5.0.5-bin.tar.gz
mv apache-cassandra-5.0.5 ~/cassandra
To run Cassandra commands from any location, add the bin directory to your PATH environment variable:
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/cassandra/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
You can now run Cassandra or cqlsh from any terminal without specifying the full path.
Check the installed Cassandra version to confirm the installation:
cassandra -v
The output is similar to:
5.0.5
Cassandra is now installed and ready for baseline testing.