Which Cassandra version should you use for production?

What version for a Production Cassandra Cluster?

tl;dr; Latest Cassandra 2.1.x

Long version:

A while ago, Eventbrite wrote:
“You should not deploy a Cassandra version X.Y.Z to production where Z <= 5.” (Full post).

And, in general, it is still valid up until today! Why “in general“? That post is old, and Cassandra has moved a lot since them. So we can get a different set of sentences:

• “If you want to be rock solid in Production, follow DSE releases.” – Release list
• “If you need the features, pick latest 2.2.x” – 2.2 Features
• “If you don’t mind facing serious bugs and contribute to the development pick 3.x” – Read this before picking 3.x for Production

Just for the ones that don’t want follow the links, and still pick 3.x for production use, read this:

“Under normal conditions, we will NOT release 3.x.y stability releases for x > 0.  That is, we will have a traditional 3.0.y stability series, but the odd-numbered bugfix-only releases will fill that role for the tick-tock series — recognizing that occasionally we will need to be flexible enough to release an emergency fix in the case of a critical bug or security vulnerability.

We do recognize that it will take some time for tick-tock releases to deliver production-level stability, which is why we will continue to deliver 2.2.y and 3.0.y bugfix releases.  (But if we do demonstrate that tick-tock can deliver the stability we want, there will be no need for a 4.0.y bugfix series, only 4.x tick-tock.)”

What about end of life?

Well, it is about stability, there are still a lot of clusters out there running 1.x and 2.0.x. And since it is an open source software, you can always search in the community or even contribute.

If you still have doubts about which version, you can always contact us!