In this chapter, you learned the value of the native driver as a tool to assist you in developing a highly available application built on top of Cassandra. Hopefully, it has been apparent that this objective involves a partnership between the application and the database, and that poor decisions on either end can dramatically affect availability.

However, the native driver has a wealth of functionality beyond what is covered here, so it would be worth your while to spend some time understanding its features and subtleties, as with any new piece of software.

In the next chapter, we will look at another aspect of designing highly available applications on Cassandra. We'll explore how the right data models can make or break your system, and what to do to ensure success.