Security and Authentication
To protect data from unauthorized access, some Cassandra data stores require connections to be authenticated with user credentials
In this documentation, "SSL" indicates both TLS (Transport Layer Security) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). The connector supports industry-standard versions of TLS/SSL.
The connector provides a mechanism that allows you to authenticate your connection using your Cassandra user name and password. The connector also supports authentication to Astra databases, which require a user name, password, and secure connection bundle. For more information about configuring authentication for your connection, see Configuring Authentication.
Additionally, the connector supports the following types of SSL connections:
- No identity verification
- One-way authentication
- Two-way authentication
Depending on the configuration of your Cassandra server, you might have the option of connecting without using SSL encryption. However, Astra instances always require SSL encryption with two-way authentication.
It is recommended that you enable SSL whenever you connect to a server that is configured to support it. SSL encryption protects data and credentials when they are transferred over the network, and provides stronger security than authentication alone. For detailed configuration instructions, see
The SSL version that the connector supports depends on the JVM version that you are using. For information about the SSL versions that are supported by each version of Java, see "Diagnosing TLS, SSL, and HTTPS" on the Java Platform Group Product Management Blog: https://blogs.oracle.com/java-platform-group/entry/diagnosing_tls_ssl_and_https.
Note: The SSL version used for the connection is the highest version that is supported by both the connector and the server, which is determined at connection time.