Cassandra Practice Test

What could be a primary reason for establishing partition size guidelines in Cassandra?

1. To limit the number of columns

2. To optimize read and write operations

3. To ensure data privacy

4. To avoid data migration

The correct answer is: To optimize read and write operations

Establishing partition size guidelines in Cassandra is primarily aimed at optimizing read and write operations. Cassandra is designed to handle large amounts of data across a distributed architecture, but if partition sizes become too large, performance can degrade significantly. Each partition is stored in the system as a unit, and if a partition grows too large, it can lead to increased latency during read and write operations due to longer disk seeks and memory consumption. By maintaining appropriate partition sizes, the database can efficiently manage resources, minimize the time taken to access data, and improve overall throughput. This is crucial for maintaining the performance characteristics that Cassandra provides, especially for applications that require quick access to data. Other answer choices address different aspects of database management, such as column limits, data privacy, and data migration, but they do not directly relate to the optimization of read and write operations, which is the primary focus of partition size guidelines.