Appendix D — Tools & Workflows

In this appendix you will learn:

• Minimal sstabledump, sstablemetadata, and scrub/verify invocations
• How to capture trimmed outputs for the guide
• Safety notes and cross-links to lifecycle chapters

Cassandra Tools (CLI)

Examples use tiny, trimmed outputs for clarity. Cassandra 5.0 NB-format files use the nb-1-big- prefix.

sstabledump /var/lib/cassandra/data/ks/tbl-.../nb-1-big-Data.db | head -n 10
# Example trimmed output (illustrative):
# {"partition": {"key": "..."}, "row": {"cells": [ ... ]}}

sstablemetadata /var/lib/cassandra/data/ks/tbl-.../nb-1-big-Data.db
# Example trimmed output:
# SSTable Metadata: minTimestamp=..., maxTimestamp=..., partitionCount=...

Other tools:

• sstablescrub — validate and attempt repair of corrupted SSTables (run on copies)
• sstablelevelreset — reset LCS levels
• sstableverify — verify data checksums and components

Pin source classes (Cassandra 5.0.8):

• org.apache.cassandra.tools.SSTableExport — implements the sstabledump CLI
• org.apache.cassandra.tools.SSTableMetadataViewer — implements the sstablemetadata CLI

Operational Notes (Cassandra)

• Prefer running tools against snapshots or copies.
• Use TOC.txt to verify component completeness before inspection.

Safety Notes

• Run tools against copies; avoid modifying live data paths.
• Cross-check TOC and component presence before analysis.

References

• SSTableExport (sstabledump): https://github.com/apache/cassandra/blob/cassandra-5.0.8/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tools/SSTableExport.java
• SSTableMetadataViewer (sstablemetadata): https://github.com/apache/cassandra/blob/cassandra-5.0.8/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tools/SSTableMetadataViewer.java