🚀 Deploy ScyllaDB on Ubuntu VPS

This article provides a guide to deploy ScyllaDB on Ubuntu VPS.

What is ScyllaDB?

ScyllaDB is a high-performance, low-latency NoSQL database designed as a drop-in replacement for Apache Cassandra. It is written in C++ (instead of Java), enabling extremely fast throughput on modern hardware—making it ideal for real-time analytics, IoT, event streams, time-series workloads, and high-volume OLTP systems.

This guide walks you through installing and configuring ScyllaDB on an Ubuntu VPS, optimizing system parameters, and verifying your new cluster node is online.

✅ Prerequisites

Before you begin:

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• sudo or root access
• At least:
  • 2 CPU cores (4+ recommended)
  • 4GB RAM minimum (8–16GB recommended)
  • SSD/NVMe storage strongly recommended
  • A static public IP address
• Open firewall ports:
  • 22 (SSH)
  • 7000 (intra-node)
  • 7001 (intra-node TLS)
  • 7199 (JMX)
  • 9042 (CQL)
  • 9160 (Thrift—optional)
  • 9180 (REST API)
  • 9100 (Prometheus)

Deploy ScyllaDB on Ubuntu VPS

To deploy ScyllaDB on Ubuntu VPS, follow the steps below:

1. Update System Packages

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y sudo apt install curl wget ufw gnupg2 -y

2. Add the ScyllaDB APT Repository

   ScyllaDB provides official repositories for Ubuntu.

   Import GPG key:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings sudo gpg --homedir /tmp --no-default-keyring --keyring /etc/apt/keyrings/scylladb.gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys a43e06657bac99e3 sudo wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/scylla.list http://downloads.scylladb.com/deb/debian/scylla-2025.3.list

   Set Java 11:

   sudo apt update sudo apt install -y openjdk-11-jre-headless sudo update-java-alternatives --jre-headless -s java-1.11.0-openjdk-amd64

3. Install ScyllaDB

   sudo apt update sudo apt install -y scylla

4. Run the Scylla Setup Wizard

   Scylla includes a post-install configuration tool that prepares your system for optimal performance.

   Run:

   sudo scylla_setup

   Follow the interactive menu to:

   ✔ Configure RAID (if applicable)
   ✔ Optimize XFS filesystem
   ✔ Disable swap
   ✔ Tune kernel parameters
   ✔ Enable hugepages
   ✔ Configure networking
   ✔ Setup NTP time sync
   ✔ Enable Scylla services

   Choose “Yes” for all optimizations unless you have custom requirements.

5. Configure Scylla YAML

   Main config file:

   /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml

   Open it:

   sudo nano /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml

   Modify the following sections:

   Node listen address:

   listen_address:

   RPC client address:

   rpc_address: 0.0.0.0

   Cluster name:

   cluster_name: 'MyScyllaCluster'

   Seed nodes (for single node):

   seed_provider: - class_name: org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleSeedProvider parameters: - seeds: ""

   Save and exit.

6. Configure Systemd Services

   Enable and start Scylla:

   sudo systemctl enable --now scylla-server sudo systemctl enable --now scylla-jmx

   Check status:

   sudo systemctl status scylla-server

   You should see active (running).

7. Open Firewall Ports (UFW)

   If you use UFW:

   sudo ufw allow 9042/tcp sudo ufw allow 7000/tcp sudo ufw allow 7001/tcp sudo ufw allow 7199/tcp sudo ufw allow 9180/tcp sudo ufw allow 9100/tcp

   Optional:

   sudo ufw allow 9160/tcp

   Reload:

   sudo ufw reload

8. Verify the Node Is Operational

   Check ring status:

   sudo nodetool status

   You should see something like:

   UN 203.0.113.10 256 86.7 KB rack1

   UN = Up / Normal

9. Test CQL Connectivity

   Install cqlsh:

   sudo apt install scylla-tools-core -y

   Then connect:

   cqlsh 9042

   Example test:

   CREATE KEYSPACE demo WITH replication = {'class': 'SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor': 1}; CREATE TABLE demo.users ( id UUID PRIMARY KEY, name text, email text ); INSERT INTO demo.users(id,name,email) VALUES (uuid(), 'Larry', 'admin@example.com'); SELECT * FROM demo.users;

10. Enable Prometheus Metrics (Optional but Recommended)

    Scylla exposes metrics on port 9100.

    View endpoints:

    curl http://localhost:9180/metrics
    

    You can integrate with:

    • Prometheus
    • Grafana (Scylla dashboard available)
    • Scylla Monitoring Stack

11. Hardening & Optimization (Recommended)

    1. Disable swap:

       sudo swapoff -a sudo sed -i '/ swap / s/^/#/' /etc/fstab

    2. Add nofile limits:

       Add to /etc/security/limits.conf:

       * soft nofile 100000 * hard nofile 100000

    3. Ensure consistent clock sync:

       sudo timedatectl set-ntp on

    4. Check Scylla tuning:

       sudo scylla_sysconfig_setup --no-force

12. (Optional) Expanding to Multi-Node Cluster

    If scaling to multi-node:

    Use the first node as the seed:

    seeds: "node1-ip"

    On new nodes:

    listen_address: rpc_address: 0.0.0.0

    Then join:

    sudo systemctl start scylla-server

    Check ring:

    nodetool status

🎉 Your ScyllaDB Deployment Is Ready

You now have a fully tuned, production-ready ScyllaDB instance running on Ubuntu VPS. You can begin developing applications using:

• CQL (Cassandra Query Language)
• REST API
• Java, Python, Go, Rust drivers
• Time-series applications
• Event streaming

Conclusion

You now know how to deploy ScyllaDB on Ubuntu VPS.