---
layout: docpage

title: "Documentation"

is_homepage: false
is_sphinx_doc: true

doc-parent: "Getting Started"

doc-title: "Configuring Cassandra"
doc-header-links: '
  <link rel="top" title="Apache Cassandra Documentation v4.0-alpha5" href="../index.html"/>
      <link rel="up" title="Getting Started" href="index.html"/>
      <link rel="next" title="Inserting and querying" href="querying.html"/>
      <link rel="prev" title="Installing Cassandra" href="installing.html"/>
'
doc-search-path: "../search.html"

extra-footer: '
<script type="text/javascript">
    var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = {
      URL_ROOT:    "",
      VERSION:     "",
      COLLAPSE_INDEX: false,
      FILE_SUFFIX: ".html",
      HAS_SOURCE:  false,
      SOURCELINK_SUFFIX: ".txt"
    };
</script>
'

---
<div class="container-fluid">
  <div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-3">
      <div class="doc-navigation">
        <div class="doc-menu" role="navigation">
          <div class="navbar-header">
            <button type="button" class="pull-left navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".sidebar-navbar-collapse">
              <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
              <span class="icon-bar"></span>
            </button>
          </div>
          <div class="navbar-collapse collapse sidebar-navbar-collapse">
            <form id="doc-search-form" class="navbar-form" action="../search.html" method="get" role="search">
              <div class="form-group">
                <input type="text" size="30" class="form-control input-sm" name="q" placeholder="Search docs">
                <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" />
                <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" />
              </div>
            </form>
            
            
            <ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="reference internal" href="index.html">Getting Started</a><ul class="current">
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="installing.html">Installing Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">Configuring Cassandra</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="#main-runtime-properties">Main runtime properties</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="#changing-the-location-of-directories">Changing the location of directories</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="#environment-variables">Environment variables</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="#logging">Logging</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="querying.html">Inserting and querying</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="drivers.html">Client drivers</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="production.html">Production Recommendations</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../new/index.html">New Features in Apache Cassandra 4.0</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../architecture/index.html">Architecture</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../cql/index.html">The Cassandra Query Language (CQL)</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../data_modeling/index.html">Data Modeling</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../configuration/index.html">Configuring Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../operating/index.html">Operating Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../tools/index.html">Cassandra Tools</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../troubleshooting/index.html">Troubleshooting</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../development/index.html">Contributing to Cassandra</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/index.html">Frequently Asked Questions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../plugins/index.html">Third-Party Plugins</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../bugs.html">Reporting Bugs</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="../contactus.html">Contact us</a></li>
</ul>

            
          </div><!--/.nav-collapse -->
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-8">
      <div class="content doc-content">
        <div class="content-container">
          
  <div class="section" id="configuring-cassandra">
<h1>Configuring Cassandra<a class="headerlink" href="#configuring-cassandra" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>For running Cassandra on a single node, the default configuration file present at <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">./conf/cassandra.yaml</span></code> is enough,
you shouldn’t need to change any configuration. However, when you deploy a cluster of nodes, or use clients that
are not on the same host, then there are some parameters that must be changed.</p>
<p>The Cassandra configuration files can be found in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">conf</span></code> directory of tarballs. For packages, the configuration
files will be located in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc/cassandra</span></code>.</p>
<div class="section" id="main-runtime-properties">
<h2>Main runtime properties<a class="headerlink" href="#main-runtime-properties" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Most of configuration in Cassandra is done via yaml properties that can be set in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cassandra.yaml</span></code>. At a minimum you
should consider setting the following properties:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cluster_name</span></code>: the name of your cluster.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">seeds</span></code>: a comma separated list of the IP addresses of your cluster seeds.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">storage_port</span></code>: you don’t necessarily need to change this but make sure that there are no firewalls blocking this
port.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">listen_address</span></code>: the IP address of your node, this is what allows other nodes to communicate with this node so it
is important that you change it. Alternatively, you can set <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">listen_interface</span></code> to tell Cassandra which interface to
use, and consecutively which address to use. Set only one, not both.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">native_transport_port</span></code>: as for storage_port, make sure this port is not blocked by firewalls as clients will
communicate with Cassandra on this port.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="changing-the-location-of-directories">
<h2>Changing the location of directories<a class="headerlink" href="#changing-the-location-of-directories" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The following yaml properties control the location of directories:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">data_file_directories</span></code>: one or more directories where data files are located.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">commitlog_directory</span></code>: the directory where commitlog files are located.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">saved_caches_directory</span></code>: the directory where saved caches are located.</li>
<li><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">hints_directory</span></code>: the directory where hints are located.</li>
</ul>
<p>For performance reasons, if you have multiple disks, consider putting commitlog and data files on different disks.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="environment-variables">
<h2>Environment variables<a class="headerlink" href="#environment-variables" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>JVM-level settings such as heap size can be set in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cassandra-env.sh</span></code>.  You can add any additional JVM command line
argument to the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">JVM_OPTS</span></code> environment variable; when Cassandra starts these arguments will be passed to the JVM.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="logging">
<h2>Logging<a class="headerlink" href="#logging" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>The logger in use is logback. You can change logging properties by editing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">logback.xml</span></code>. By default it will log at
INFO level into a file called <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">system.log</span></code> and at debug level into a file called <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">debug.log</span></code>. When running in the
foreground, it will also log at INFO level to the console.</p>
</div>
</div>


          <div class="doc-prev-next-links" role="navigation" aria-label="footer navigation">
            
            <a href="querying.html" class="btn btn-default pull-right " role="button" title="Inserting and querying" accesskey="n">Next <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-circle-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></span></a>
            
            
            <a href="installing.html" class="btn btn-default" role="button" title="Installing Cassandra" accesskey="p"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-circle-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></span> Previous</a>
            
          </div>
          
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>