Apache Cassandra and Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra consistency levels

APPLIES TO: Cassandra

Unlike Azure Cosmos DB, Apache Cassandra doesn't natively provide precisely defined consistency guarantees. Instead, Apache Cassandra provides a write consistency level and a read consistency level, to enable the high availability, consistency, and latency tradeoffs. When using Azure Cosmos DB for Cassandra:

• The write consistency level of Apache Cassandra is mapped to the default consistency level configured on your Azure Cosmos DB account. Consistency for a write operation (CL) can't be changed on a per-request basis.
• Azure Cosmos DB will dynamically map the read consistency level specified by the Cassandra client driver. The consistency level will be mapped to one of the Azure Cosmos DB consistency levels configured dynamically on a read request.

Multi-region writes vs single-region writes

Apache Cassandra database is a multi-master system by default, and doesn't provide an out-of-box option for single-region writes with multi-region replication for reads. However, Azure Cosmos DB provides turnkey ability to have either single region write configurations. One of the advantages of being able to choose a single region write configuration across multiple regions is the avoidance of cross-region conflict scenarios, and the option of maintaining strong consistency across multiple regions.

With single-region writes, you can maintain strong consistency, while still maintaining a level of high availability across regions with service-managed failover. In this configuration, you can still exploit data locality to reduce read latency by downgrading to eventual consistency on a per request basis. In addition to these capabilities, the Azure Cosmos DB platform also offers the option of zone redundancy when selecting a region. Thus, unlike native Apache Cassandra, Azure Cosmos DB allows you to navigate the CAP Theorem trade-off spectrum with more granularity.

Mapping consistency levels

The Azure Cosmos DB platform provides a set of five well-defined, business use-case oriented consistency settings with respect to replication. The tradeoffs to these consistency settings are defined by the CAP and PACLC theorems. As this approach differs significantly from Apache Cassandra, we would recommend that you take time to review and understand Azure Cosmos DB consistency. The following table illustrates the possible mappings between Apache Cassandra and Azure Cosmos DB consistency levels when using API for Cassandra. This table shows configurations for single region, multi-region reads with single-region writes, and multi-region writes.

Mappings

ALL, EACH_QUOROM, QUOROM, LOCAL_QUORUM, or THREE write consistency in Apache Cassandra

Unlike Apache and DSE Cassandra, Azure Cosmos DB durably commits a quorum write by default. At least three out of four (3/4) nodes commit the write to disk, and NOT just an in-memory commit log.

ONE, LOCAL_ONE, or ANY write consistency in Apache Cassandra

Azure Cosmos DB API for Cassandra always durably commits a quorum write by default, hence all read consistencies can be made use of.

TWO write consistency in Apache Cassandra

Azure Cosmos DB has no notion of write consistency to only two nodes, hence we treat this consistency similar to quorum for most cases. For read consistency TWO, this consistency is equivalent to write with QUOROM and read from ONE.

Serial, or Local_Serial write consistency in Apache Cassandra

Serial only applies to lightweight transactions. Azure Cosmos DB follows a durably committed algorithm by default, and hence Serial consistency is similar to quorum.

Other regions for single-region write

Azure Cosmos DB facilitates five consistency settings, including strong, across multiple regions where single-region writes is configured. This facilitation occurs as long as regions are within 2,000 miles of each other.

Azure Cosmos DB doesn't have an applicable mapping to Apache Cassandra as all nodes/regions are writes and a strong consistency guarantee isn't possible across all regions.

Other regions for multi-region write

Azure Cosmos DB facilitates only four consistency settings; eventual, consistent prefix, session, and bounded staleness across multiple regions where multi-region write is configured.

Apache Cassandra would only provide eventual consistency for reads across other regions regardless of settings.

Dynamic overrides supported

Metrics

If your Azure Cosmos DB account is configured with a consistency level other than the strong consistency, review the Probabilistically Bounded Staleness (PBS) metric. The metric captures the probability that your clients may get strong and consistent reads for your workloads. This metric is exposed in the Azure portal. To find more information about the PBS metric, see Monitor Probabilistically Bounded Staleness (PBS) metric.

Probabilistically bounded staleness shows how eventual is your eventual consistency. This metric provides an insight into how often you can get a stronger consistency than the consistency level that you've currently configured on your Azure Cosmos DB account. In other words, you can see the probability (measured in milliseconds) of getting consistent reads for a combination of write and read regions.

Multiple-regional strong consistency for write requests in Apache Cassandra

Apache Cassandra, the setting of EACH_QUORUM or QUORUM gives a strong consistency. When a write request is sent to a region, EACH_QUORUM persists the data in a quorum number of nodes in each data center. This persistence requires every data center to be available for the write operation to succeed. QUORUM is slightly less restrictive, with a QUORUM number of nodes across all the data centers needed to persist the data prior to acknowledging the write to be successful.

The following graphic illustrates a multiple-regional strong consistency setting in Apache Cassandra between two regions 1 and 2. After data is written to region 1, the write needs to be persisted in a quorum number of nodes in both region 1, and region 2 before an acknowledgment is received by the application.

Multiple-regional strong consistency for write requests in Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra

In Azure Cosmos DB consistency is set at the account level. With Strong consistency in Azure Cosmos DB for Cassandra, data is replicated synchronously to the read regions for the account. The further apart the regions for the Azure Cosmos DB account are, the higher the latency of the consistent write operations.

How the number of regions affects your read or write request:

• Two regions: With strong consistency, quorum (N/2 + 1) = 2. So, if the read region goes down, the account can no longer accept writes with strong consistency since a quorum number of regions isn't available for the write to be replicated to.
• Three or more regions: for N = 3, quorum = 2. If one of the read regions is down, the write region can still replicate the writes to a total of two regions that meet the quorum requirement. Similarly, with four regions, quorum = 4/2 + 1 = 3. Even with one read region being down, quorum can be met.

Weaker consistency for write requests in Apache Cassandra

A consistency level of ANY, ONE, TWO, THREE, LOCAL_QUORUM, Serial or Local_Serial? Consider a write request with LOCAL_QUORUM with an RF of 4 in a six-node datacenter. Quorum = 4/2 + 1 = 3.

Weaker consistency for write requests in Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra

When a write request is sent with any of the consistency levels lower than Strong, a success response is returned as soon as the local region persists the write in at least three out of four replicas.

Multiple-regional strong consistency for read requests in Apache Cassandra

With a consistency of EACH_QUORUM, a consistent read can be achieved in Apache Cassandra. In, a multi-region setup for EACH_QUORUM if the quorum number of nodes isn't met in each region, then the read will be unsuccessful.

Multiple-regional strong consistency for read requests in Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra

The read request is served from two replicas in the specified region. Since the write already took care of persisting to a quorum number of regions (and all regions if every region was available), simply reading from two replicas in the specified region provides Strong consistency. This strong consistency requires EACH_QUORUM to be specified in the driver when issuing the read against a region for the Cosmos DB account along with Strong Consistency as the default consistency level for the account.

Local strong consistency in Apache Cassandra

A read request with a consistency level of TWO, THREE, or LOCAL_QUORUM will give us strong consistency reading from local region. With a consistency level of LOCAL_QUORUM, you need a response from two nodes in the specified datacenter for a successful read.

Local strong consistency in Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra

In Azure Cosmos DB for Cassandra, having a consistency level of TWO, THREE or LOCAL_QUORUM will give a local strong consistency for a read request. Since the write path guarantees replicating to a minimum of three out of four replicas, a read from two replicas in the specified region will guarantee a quorum read of the data in that region.

Eventual consistency in Apache Cassandra

A consistency level of LOCAL_ONE, One and ANY with LOCAL_ONE will result in eventual consistency. This consistency is used in cases where the focus is on latency.

Eventual consistency in Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Cassandra?

A consistency level of LOCAL_ONE, ONE or Any will give you eventual consistency. With eventual consistency, a read is served from just one of the replicas in the specified region.

Override consistency level for read operations in Azure Cosmos DB for Cassandra

Previously, the consistency level for read requests could only be overridden to a lower consistency than the default set on the account. For instance, with the default consistency of Strong, read requests could be issued with Strong by default and overridden on a per request basis (if needed) to a consistency level weaker than Strong. However, read requests couldn't be issued with an overridden consistency level higher than the account’s default. An account with Eventual consistency couldn't receive read requests with a consistency level higher than Eventual (which in the Apache Cassandra drivers translate to TWO, THREE, LOCAL_QUORUM or QUORUM).

Azure Cosmos DB for Cassandra now facilitates overriding the consistency on read requests to a value higher than the account’s default consistency. For instance, with the default consistency on the Cosmos DB account set to Eventual (Apache Cassandra equivalent of One or ANY), read requests can be overridden on a per request basis to LOCAL_QUORUM. This override ensures that a quorum number of replicas within the specified region are consulted prior to returning the result set, as required by LOCAL_QUORUM.

This option also prevents the need to set a default consistency that is higher than Eventual, when it's only needed for read requests.

Related content

• Multiple-regional distribution overview
• Consistency Level overview
• High availability