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CassandraVersion
What is CassandraVersion
CassandraVersion is a Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRD). It provides a declarative configuration to specify the docker images to be used for Cassandra database deployed with KubeDB in a Kubernetes native way.
When you install KubeDB, a CassandraVersion custom resource will be created automatically for every supported Cassandra versions. You have to specify the name of CassandraVersion CR in spec.version field of Cassandra crd. Then, KubeDB will use the docker images specified in the CassandraVersion CR to create your expected database.
Using a separate CRD for specifying respective docker images, and pod security policy names allow us to modify the images, and policies independent of KubeDB operator.This will also allow the users to use a custom image for the database.
CassandraVersion Spec
As with all other Kubernetes objects, a CassandraVersion needs apiVersion, kind, and metadata fields. It also needs a .spec section.
apiVersion: catalog.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
kind: CassandraVersion
metadata:
annotations:
meta.helm.sh/release-name: kubedb
meta.helm.sh/release-namespace: kubedb
creationTimestamp: "2025-10-16T13:10:10Z"
generation: 1
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/instance: kubedb
app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: Helm
app.kubernetes.io/name: kubedb-catalog
app.kubernetes.io/version: v2024.9.30
helm.sh/chart: kubedb-catalog-v2025.6.30
name: 5.0.3
resourceVersion: "42125"
uid: e30e23aa-febc-4029-8be7-993afaff1fc6
spec:
db:
image: ghcr.io/appscode-images/cassandra-management:5.0.3
exporter:
image: ghcr.io/appscode-images/cassandra-exporter:2.3.8
initContainer:
image: ghcr.io/kubedb/cassandra-init:5.0.0-v2
medusa:
image: ghcr.io/appscode-images/cassandra-medusa:0.24.0
init:
image: ghcr.io/appscode-images/cassandra-medusa:0.24.0
securityContext:
runAsUser: 999
version: 5.0.3
metadata.name
metadata.name is a required field that specifies the name of the CassandraVersion CR. You have to specify this name in spec.version field of Cassandra CR.
We follow this convention for naming CassandraVersion CR:
- Name format:
{Original Cassandra image version}-{modification tag}
We use official Apache Cassandra release tar files to build docker images for supporting Cassandra versions and re-tag the image with v1, v2 etc. modification tag when there’s any. An image with higher modification tag will have more features than the images with lower modification tag. Hence, it is recommended to use CassandraVersion CR with the highest modification tag to enjoy the latest features.
spec.version
spec.version is a required field that specifies the original version of Cassandra database that has been used to build the docker image specified in spec.db.image field.
spec.db.image
spec.db.image is a required field that specifies the docker image which will be used to create PetSet by KubeDB operator to create expected Cassandra database.
spec.exporter.image
spec.exporter.image specifies the image which will export matrices needed for monitoring.
spec.initContainer.image
spec.initContainer.image is a required field that specifies the image which will be used to mount some scripts in database container.
spec.medusa.image
spec.medusa.image specifies the image required for backup process of Cassandra.
spec.medusa.init.image
spec.medusa.init.image specifies the image required for restore process of Cassandra.
spec.podSecurityPolicies.databasePolicyName
spec.podSecurityPolicies.databasePolicyName is a required field that specifies the name of the pod security policy required to get the database server pod(s) running.
helm upgrade -i kubedb oci://ghcr.io/appscode-charts/kubedb \
--namespace kubedb --create-namespace \
--set global.featureGates.Cassandra=true --set global.featureGates.Cassandra=true \
--set-file global.license=/path/to/the/license.txt \
--wait --burst-limit=10000 --debug