Cassandra Practice Test

Can nodes gossip with any specific other nodes in the Cassandra cluster?

1. True

2. False

3. Only with adjacent nodes

4. Only with nodes in the same data center

The correct answer is: False

In a Cassandra cluster, the nodes utilize a gossip protocol for communication and state sharing. This protocol allows any node to establish connections with any other node in the cluster without restriction. Instead of communicating only with specific or adjacent nodes, each node can reach out to any other node at any time, which enhances the resilience and scalability of the system. The nature of the gossip protocol means that nodes can independently choose which other nodes to interact with, and they do not have to be adjacent or in the same data center. This design choice contributes to Cassandra's ability to handle node failures gracefully and ensures that data is consistent and available across distributed clusters. Thus, the assertion that nodes cannot gossip with any specific other nodes in the cluster is accurate, confirming that the statement is indeed false.