How to List All Cassandra Tables Easily?

To list all Cassandra tables using Apache Spark, you can utilize the Spark-Cassandra Connector. The Spark-Cassandra Connector allows you to seamlessly integrate Cassandra with Spark, enabling you to query and list Cassandra tables easily. Below is a step-by-step explanation of how to achieve this in PySpark.

Contents hide

1 Step-by-Step Guide

1.1 1. Dependencies

1.2 2. Initializing SparkSession

1.3 3. Fetch Metadata Information

1.4 4. Listing Tables in a Keyspace

2 Conclusion

2.1 About Editorial Team

2.2 You Might Also Like:

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Dependencies

First, make sure you have the necessary dependencies in your environment. You’ll need `pyspark` and `spark-cassandra-connector`.

If you’re using a locally built Spark setup, you can add the dependency like this in your PySpark script:


from pyspark.sql import SparkSession

spark = SparkSession.builder \
    .appName("CassandraExample") \
    .config("spark.cassandra.connection.host", "your_cassandra_host") \
    .config("spark.jars.packages", "com.datastax.spark:spark-cassandra-connector_2.12:3.0.0") \
    .getOrCreate()

2. Initializing SparkSession

Initialize the SparkSession with the necessary Cassandra configurations.


from pyspark.sql import SparkSession

spark = SparkSession.builder \
    .appName("CassandraTablesList") \
    .config("spark.cassandra.connection.host", "127.0.0.1") \
    .getOrCreate()

3. Fetch Metadata Information

Use the `spark.read.format(“org.apache.spark.sql.cassandra”).option()` method to read the metadata from the Cassandra system tables.


keyspaces = spark.read \
    .format("org.apache.spark.sql.cassandra") \
    .option("table", "keyspaces") \
    .option("keyspace", "system_schema") \
    .load()

# Display the keyspaces
keyspaces.select("keyspace_name").show(truncate=False)


+-------------+
|keyspace_name|
+-------------+
|system       |
|system_schema|
|my_keyspace  |
|...          |
+-------------+

4. Listing Tables in a Keyspace

To list all tables in a specific keyspace, query the `tables` metadata from the `system_schema`:


tables = spark.read \
    .format("org.apache.spark.sql.cassandra") \
    .option("table", "tables") \
    .option("keyspace", "system_schema") \
    .load()

# Filter by a specific keyspace name, for example: 'my_keyspace'
my_keyspace = "my_keyspace"

# Display the tables in the specified keyspace
tables.filter(tables.keyspace_name == my_keyspace).select("table_name").show(truncate=False)


+-----------+
|table_name |
+-----------+
|my_table1  |
|my_table2  |
|my_table3  |
|...        |
+-----------+

Conclusion

By leveraging the Spark-Cassandra Connector, you can easily list all Cassandra keyspaces and tables directly from a PySpark environment. This can be particularly useful for data exploration and ensuring that your data pipelines are interactively aware of the available tables in Cassandra.

About Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is made up of tech enthusiasts deeply skilled in Apache Spark, PySpark, and Machine Learning, alongside proficiency in Pandas, R, Hive, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and Databricks. They're not just experts; they're passionate educators, dedicated to demystifying complex data concepts through engaging and easy-to-understand tutorials.