Cassandra is a distributed NoSQL database and wide-column store designed for high availability and linear scalability. It functions as a fault-tolerant distributed system that utilizes an LSM-tree storage engine to optimize write throughput and manage massive datasets.
The system is a CQL-compliant database, using a structured query language to manage and retrieve tabular data stored across multiple nodes. It organizes information into rows and columns based on a flexible schema and primary keys.
The project provides capabilities for horizontal database scaling, distributed data partitioning, and high-volume tabular querying. It also supports data expiration policies and the execution of user-defined functions for data transformations.