Cassandra Practice Test

What can be a consequence of having too many partitions in Cassandra?

1. Increased read performance

2. Greater complexity in data management

3. Lower latency in queries

4. Improved data replication

The correct answer is: Greater complexity in data management

Having too many partitions in Cassandra can indeed lead to greater complexity in data management. This is because managing a large number of partitions can introduce overhead in terms of performance and maintenance. Each partition has its own metadata, and when there are numerous partitions, operations such as compaction, repair, and data distribution become more complex and take longer to execute. In addition, the increased number of partitions can affect balancing the workload across nodes in the cluster, which might lead to uneven data distribution and performance issues. As a result, administrators may find it challenging to optimize queries, balance replicas, and maintain cluster health. In contrast, the other options suggest improvements or benefits that would not realistically occur with an excessive number of partitions. Increased read performance and lower latency are generally associated with well-structured data models and appropriate partitioning strategies, which can be compromised by having too many partitions. Improved data replication deals with the distribution and redundancy of data across nodes, which can also become problematic if partitions are not effectively managed.