Cassandra cluster in a single machine with Ubuntu and VirtualBox

This is a simple tutorial on creating a Cassandra cluster using a single machine with only Ubuntu and VirtualBox.

If you’re willing to do this, I’m assuming you have some basic knowledge of Linux commands, such as for setting permissions (sudo, chown, chmod) and installing packages. However, it’s really easy.

In this case we will be using a Ubuntu machine, hosting other Ubuntu machines as well. Please consider that this VM approach could be resource consuming, but I just wanted to have this “realistic” scenario. You should try doing basic, conservative installations (or distros) of Ubuntu on the virtual machines to preserve resources.

So, we will be using a Ubuntu machine as host, with VirtualBox serving other Virtual Machines. Cassandra will be running both on the “real” machine as well as the virtual ones.

So, let’s get started on installing Cassandra on the first machine, so we will be familiar with the steps.

1. Downloading prerequisites.

First of all, you’ll have to download Cassandra in any flavor you like. In the example I’m using the binaries, but there’s also git and SVN repositories.

For running Cassandra you will need a JDK like OpenJDK, which you can easily install vía package manager or command line:

$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jre

Download VirtualBox, as a deb package, the installation is pretty straight-forward.

Of course, you will need a Ubuntu installation disk or image.

2. Configuring Cassandra on the host.

Now, let’s proceed with the first Cassandra install.

Create the user and group that will be running the Cassandra processes:

$ sudo groupadd -g 501 cassandra
$ sudo useradd -m -u 501 -g cassandra -d /home/cassandra -s /bin/bash -c "Cassandra User" cassandra
$ sudo passwd cassandra

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