Cassandra redesigns indexing, storage management for 5.0 release

The Apache Software Foundation Cassandra project has released the 5.0 iteration of the wide-column store database boasting new features to improve vector search, a Java update and enhanced performance.

Cassandra is designed to support highly distributed systems where writes exceed reads, and so-called ACID compliance is not important. Netflix, for example, has been using Cassandra since 2013, replacing Oracle databases and using the NoSQL system to support global accounts and customer data worldwide.

New features for the 5.0 release, made generally available on Thursday last week, include Storage Attached Indexes (SAI) which promises to boost query flexibility and performance, especially for large datasets. The approach to move indexing closer to the data, improves query performance, and replaces the original Secondary Index feature.

The database upgrade also includes Vector Search, which supports a vector data type and indexing for Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN).

"Cassandra 5.0 lays the groundwork ...