除了上面给出的关于何时使用和何时不使用Cassandra的答案外，如果你决定使用Cassandra，你可能会考虑不使用Cassandra本身，而是使用它的众多表亲之一。

上面的一些答案已经指出了各种“NoSQL”系统，它们与Cassandra有许多相同的属性，有一些或大或小的差异，并且可能比Cassandra本身更适合您的特定需求。

Additionally, recently (several years after this question was originally asked), a Cassandra clone called Scylla (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla_(database)) was released. Scylla is an open-source re-implementation of Cassandra in C++, which claims to have significantly higher throughput and lower latencies than the original Java Cassandra, while being mostly compatible with it (in features, APIs, and file formats). So if you're already considering Cassandra, you may want to consider Scylla as well.

NoSQL的一般思想是，您应该使用最适合您的应用程序的数据存储。如果您有一个财务数据表，请使用SQL。如果您的对象需要复杂/缓慢的查询才能映射到关系模式，请使用对象或键/值存储。

当然，你遇到的任何现实问题都处于这两个极端之间，没有一个解决方案是完美的。您需要考虑每个存储的功能以及使用其中一个的后果，这将非常具体于您试图解决的问题。

在这里，我将重点介绍一些重要的方面，这些方面可以帮助你决定是否真的需要卡桑德拉。这个清单并不详尽，只是我脑海中最重要的一些观点

Don't consider Cassandra as the first choice when you have a strict requirement on the relationship (across your dataset). Cassandra by default is AP system (of CAP). But, it supports tunable consistency which means it can be configured to support as CP as well. So don't ignore it just because you read somewhere that it's AP and you are looking for CP systems. Cassandra is more accurately termed “tuneably consistent,” which means it allows you to easily decide the level of consistency you require, in balance with the level of availability. Don't use Cassandra if your scale is not much or if you can deal with a non-distributed DB. Think harder if your team thinks that all your problems will be solved if you use distributed DBs like Cassandra. To start with these DBs is very simple as it comes with many defaults but optimizing and mastering it for solving a specific problem would require a good (if not a lot) amount of engineering effort. Cassandra is column-oriented but at the same time each row also has a unique key. So, it might be helpful to think of it as an indexed, row-oriented store. You can even use it as a document store. Cassandra doesn't force you to define the fields beforehand. So, if you are in a startup mode or your features are evolving (as in agile) - Cassandra embraces it. So better, first think about queries and then think about data to answer them. Cassandra is optimized for really high throughput on writes. If your use case is read-heavy (like cache) then Cassandra might not be an ideal choice.

Mongodb有非常强大的聚合函数和一个富有表现力的聚合框架。它具有许多开发人员习惯于从关系数据库世界中使用的特性。例如，它的文档数据/存储结构允许比Cassandra更复杂的数据模型。

当然，所有这些都是有代价的。因此，当您选择数据库(NoSQL、NewSQL或RDBMS)时，请考虑您要解决的问题和可伸缩性需求。没有一个数据库可以完成所有的工作。

在评估分布式数据系统时，您必须考虑CAP定理——您可以选择以下两个:一致性、可用性和分区容差。

Cassandra是一个可用的、支持最终一致性的分区容忍系统。要了解更多信息，请参阅我写的这篇博客文章:NoSQL系统的可视化指南。

没有什么是银弹，任何东西都是为了解决特定的问题而构建的，有自己的优点和缺点。这取决于你，你有什么问题陈述，什么是该问题的最佳解决方案。

我会按照你问的顺序一个一个地回答你的问题。因为Cassandra是基于NoSQL数据库家族的，所以在我回答你的问题之前，理解为什么使用NoSQL数据库是很重要的。

为什么使用NoSQL

In the case of RDBMS, making a choice is quite easy because all the databases like MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL, PostgreSQL in this category offer almost the same kind of solutions oriented toward ACID properties. When it comes to NoSQL, the decision becomes difficult because every NoSQL database offers different solutions and you have to understand which one is best suited for your app/system requirements. For example, MongoDB is fit for use cases where your system demands a schema-less document store. HBase might be fit for search engines, analyzing log data, or any place where scanning huge, two-dimensional join-less tables is a requirement. Redis is built to provide In-Memory search for varieties of data structures like trees, queues, linked lists, etc and can be a good fit for making real-time leaderboards, pub-sub kind of system. Similarly there are other databases in this category (Including Cassandra) which are fit for different problem statements. Now lets move to the original questions, and answer them one by one.

何时使用卡桑德拉

Being a part of the NoSQL family, Cassandra offers a solution for problems where one of your requirements is to have a very heavy write system and you want to have a quite responsive reporting system on top of that stored data. Consider the use case of Web analytics where log data is stored for each request and you want to built an analytical platform around it to count hits per hour, by browser, by IP, etc in a real time manner. You can refer to this blog post to understand more about the use cases where Cassandra fits in.

什么时候使用RDMS而不是Cassandra

Cassandra基于NoSQL数据库，不提供ACID和关系数据属性。如果您对ACID属性有强烈的需求(例如财务数据)，Cassandra将不适合这种情况。显然，您可以为此制定一个变通方案，但是您最终将编写大量的应用程序代码来模拟ACID属性，并将严重延误上市时间。同时，使用Cassandra管理这种系统对您来说也是复杂而乏味的。

什么时候不用卡桑德拉

我认为上面的解释是否有意义不需要回答。