Cassandra Practice Test

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare efficiently for the Cassandra Test. Study with comprehensive quizzes and real-world scenarios. Test your understanding with multiple-choice questions and detailed explanations. Get ready for a successful exam!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

What does the gossip protocol do in a Cassandra cluster?

Stores data in a primary node
Spreads cluster metadata between nodes
Secures the data stream
Creates backups automatically

The correct answer is: Spreads cluster metadata between nodes

The gossip protocol is a key mechanism used in a Cassandra cluster for communication between nodes. Its primary function is to facilitate the dissemination of cluster state information and metadata. Each node periodically contacts a randomly chosen peer node to exchange information about itself and its cluster state, which includes the status of other nodes, their availability, and any changes in the cluster configuration. By using the gossip protocol, Cassandra ensures that all nodes have consistent and up-to-date information regarding the state of the cluster. This decentralized approach supports high availability and fault tolerance, allowing the cluster to maintain operations even if certain nodes are down or unreachable. This effective sharing of metadata bolsters the overall resilience of the database system, making it easier to manage node membership and detect failures. Other choices refer to functionalities that are not provided by the gossip protocol: storing data in a primary node relates more to Cassandra's data replication and distribution mechanisms, securing data streams pertains to encryption protocols, and creating backups automatically involves separate backup strategies rather than the gossip mechanism. Thus, the focus on the dissemination of cluster metadata confirms the correctness of the choice related to the gossip protocol's role in a Cassandra cluster.