17.1. Installing GeoMesa ScyllaDB

Note

GeoMesa currently supports ScyllaDB version 2025.1.4.

17.1.1. Connecting to ScyllaDB

The first step to getting started with ScyllaDB and GeoMesa is to install ScyllaDB itself. You can find good directions for downloading and installing ScyllaDB online. For example, see Scylla’s official getting started documentation.

17.1.1.1. Quick Start with Docker

The easiest way to get started with ScyllaDB is using Docker:

$ docker run --name scylla -d -p 9042:9042 scylladb/scylla:latest

This starts a ScyllaDB container listening on the default CQL port (9042).

Once ScyllaDB is running, create a keyspace for GeoMesa. Connect using cqlsh:

$ docker exec -it scylla cqlsh

Then create a keyspace:

CREATE KEYSPACE IF NOT EXISTS geomesa_scylla WITH replication = {'class': 'SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor': 1};

Note

For production deployments, use a higher replication factor and consider using NetworkTopologyStrategy instead of SimpleStrategy.

17.1.1.2. Setting Up for GeoMesa

After creating the keyspace, note your ScyllaDB contact point. For a local Docker installation, this will be 127.0.0.1:9042. You can verify the port in the ScyllaDB configuration.

Since ScyllaDB is wire-compatible with Cassandra, GeoMesa uses the same libraries and configuration. Set the CASSANDRA_HOME environment variable to point to a Cassandra installation, or let GeoMesa download the necessary JARs automatically (see below).

17.1.2. Installing GeoMesa Tools and Plugins

ScyllaDB uses the same GeoMesa Cassandra distribution for all components including:

• Binary distribution and command line tools

• Building from source

• GeoServer plugins

Please refer to the Cassandra installation documentation for complete instructions on:

• Installing from the binary distribution

• Building from source

• Setting up command line tools

• Installing the GeoServer plugin

Note

All geomesa-cassandra command line tools work identically with ScyllaDB. Simply point them at your ScyllaDB cluster using the contact point parameter.

Note

The same Cassandra client JARs work with both Cassandra and ScyllaDB due to wire protocol compatibility. When using $CASSANDRA_HOME or installing dependencies, use the Cassandra client libraries as documented in the Cassandra installation guide.