ScyllaDB Cluster

intermediate

High-performance Cassandra-compatible NoSQL database written in C++.

Overview

ScyllaDB is a high-performance NoSQL database written in C++ that provides full compatibility with Apache Cassandra while delivering significantly better performance characteristics. Originally developed by Avi Kivity and the team at ScyllaDB, it reimplements Cassandra's functionality using modern C++ techniques and a shard-per-core architecture that eliminates the overhead of Java Virtual Machine garbage collection. ScyllaDB maintains wire protocol compatibility with Cassandra, meaning existing applications and drivers can connect without modification while benefiting from 10x better throughput and dramatically reduced P99 latencies. This cluster configuration deploys a two-node ScyllaDB setup that demonstrates distributed wide-column storage capabilities with automatic data replication and partition tolerance. The nodes communicate through a dedicated bridge network and use seed-based discovery to form a cohesive cluster that can handle node failures gracefully. The configuration includes memory and CPU constraints suitable for development environments while maintaining the core distributed database functionality that makes ScyllaDB attractive for production workloads. This setup is ideal for developers migrating from Cassandra who want to experience ScyllaDB's performance benefits, teams building real-time analytics platforms that require low-latency data access, and organizations evaluating modern NoSQL alternatives that can scale horizontally while maintaining strong consistency guarantees.

Key Features

Cassandra CQL compatibility with existing drivers and applications
C++ implementation delivering 10x better performance than Java-based Cassandra
Shard-per-core architecture eliminating JVM garbage collection overhead
Automatic cluster formation using seed-based node discovery
Multi-node data replication with configurable consistency levels
Wide-column data model supporting flexible schema evolution
Built-in nodetool compatibility for cluster monitoring and maintenance
DynamoDB-compatible API support for cloud migration scenarios

Common Use Cases

1Migrating existing Cassandra applications to gain 10x performance improvements
2Real-time analytics platforms requiring sub-millisecond query response times
3IoT data ingestion systems handling millions of time-series data points
4Gaming backends storing player profiles and session data with low latency
5Content management systems serving personalized recommendations at scale
6Financial services applications tracking transactions with high availability requirements
7Development environments for testing distributed database applications locally

Prerequisites

Minimum 4GB RAM available to Docker (750MB allocated per node plus overhead)
Docker Engine 20.10+ with Docker Compose v2 support
Basic understanding of NoSQL concepts and CQL query language
Familiarity with distributed database concepts like eventual consistency
Network ports 9042 (CQL) and 9160 (Thrift) available on host system
SSD storage recommended for optimal performance in production deployments

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  scylla1: 
3    image: scylladb/scylla:latest
4    container_name: scylla1
5    command: --seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1
6    volumes: 
7      - scylla1_data:/var/lib/scylla
8    ports: 
9      - "9042:9042"
10      - "9160:9160"
11    networks: 
12      - scylla-network
13
14  scylla2: 
15    image: scylladb/scylla:latest
16    container_name: scylla2
17    command: --seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1
18    volumes: 
19      - scylla2_data:/var/lib/scylla
20    depends_on: 
21      - scylla1
22    networks: 
23      - scylla-network
24
25volumes: 
26  scylla1_data: 
27  scylla2_data: 
28
29networks: 
30  scylla-network: 
31    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# ScyllaDB optimized for containers

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://docs.scylladb.com/
2CQL port 9042 | Thrift port 9160 (legacy)
3Connect: docker exec -it scylla1 cqlsh
410x faster than Apache Cassandra - C++ vs Java
5Drop-in Cassandra replacement - same CQL and drivers
6Monitor: docker exec -it scylla1 nodetool status

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

scylla1

scylla1:
  image: scylladb/scylla:latest
  container_name: scylla1
  command: "--seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1"
  volumes:
    - scylla1_data:/var/lib/scylla
  ports:
    - "9042:9042"
    - "9160:9160"
  networks:
    - scylla-network

scylla2

scylla2:
  image: scylladb/scylla:latest
  container_name: scylla2
  command: "--seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1"
  volumes:
    - scylla2_data:/var/lib/scylla
  depends_on:
    - scylla1
  networks:
    - scylla-network

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  scylla1:
5    image: scylladb/scylla:latest
6    container_name: scylla1
7    command: --seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1
8    volumes:
9      - scylla1_data:/var/lib/scylla
10    ports:
11      - "9042:9042"
12      - "9160:9160"
13    networks:
14      - scylla-network
15
16  scylla2:
17    image: scylladb/scylla:latest
18    container_name: scylla2
19    command: --seeds=scylla1 --smp 1 --memory 750M --overprovisioned 1
20    volumes:
21      - scylla2_data:/var/lib/scylla
22    depends_on:
23      - scylla1
24    networks:
25      - scylla-network
26
27volumes:
28  scylla1_data:
29  scylla2_data:
30
31networks:
32  scylla-network:
33    driver: bridge
34EOF
35
36# 2. Create the .env file
37cat > .env << 'EOF'
38# ScyllaDB optimized for containers
39EOF
40
41# 3. Start the services
42docker compose up -d
43
44# 4. View logs
45docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/scylladb/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Container exits with 'Not enough memory' error: Increase Docker's memory limit to at least 4GB total
CQL connection refused on port 9042: Wait 60-90 seconds for cluster initialization to complete
Nodes show as DOWN in nodetool status: Check inter-node connectivity on the scylla-network bridge
High CPU usage during startup: Normal behavior as ScyllaDB performs auto-tuning and optimization
Volume mount permission errors: Ensure Docker has proper access to volume mount directories
Seed node discovery failures: Verify scylla1 container starts first and maintains stable networking

Community Notes

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