Cassandra Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

The gossip protocol is a key mechanism used in a Cassandra cluster for communication between nodes. Its primary function is to facilitate the dissemination of cluster state information and metadata. Each node periodically contacts a randomly chosen peer node to exchange information about itself and its cluster state, which includes the status of other nodes, their availability, and any changes in the cluster configuration.

By using the gossip protocol, Cassandra ensures that all nodes have consistent and up-to-date information regarding the state of the cluster. This decentralized approach supports high availability and fault tolerance, allowing the cluster to maintain operations even if certain nodes are down or unreachable. This effective sharing of metadata bolsters the overall resilience of the database system, making it easier to manage node membership and detect failures.

Other choices refer to functionalities that are not provided by the gossip protocol: storing data in a primary node relates more to Cassandra's data replication and distribution mechanisms, securing data streams pertains to encryption protocols, and creating backups automatically involves separate backup strategies rather than the gossip mechanism. Thus, the focus on the dissemination of cluster metadata confirms the correctness of the choice related to the gossip protocol's role in a Cassandra cluster.