Cassandra Practice Test

In a full network partition of a Cassandra cluster, which group can still satisfy queries?

1. Any node can satisfy queries

2. Only the smallest group of nodes can

3. Only the largest group of nodes can

4. No nodes can satisfy queries

The correct answer is: Only the largest group of nodes can

In a full network partition of a Cassandra cluster, the correct response involves understanding the principle of availability and how Cassandra handles network partitions through its replication strategy. Cassandra is designed based on the principles of eventual consistency and follows the CAP theorem, which states that in the event of a network partition, a system can either maintain consistency or availability, but not both. When a full network partition occurs, some nodes may become isolated and unable to communicate with the rest of the cluster. In this scenario, the largest group of nodes that remains connected to each other can still process read and write requests. This is because Cassandra uses a decentralized architecture where each node can serve requests independently, provided it can reach other nodes in its own group. The ability of the largest group of nodes to continue serving queries stems from the fact that they can still access the replica data stored on their nodes. The replication factor and the consistency level chosen for reading or writing operations will influence how the data is accessed within this largest group. In contrast, the other options do not accurately reflect how Cassandra manages partitions. The idea that any node can satisfy queries is misleading because isolated nodes may not have access to enough data or replicas required to fulfill more stringent consistency requirements. Similarly, the smallest group of nodes