[jira] [Created] (CASSANDRA-11911) CQLSSTableWriter should allow for unset fields

["Matt Kopit (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Matt Kopit created CASSANDRA-11911:
--------------------------------------

             Summary: CQLSSTableWriter should allow for unset fields
                 Key: CASSANDRA-11911
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-11911
             Project: Cassandra
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: Core
         Environment: Cassandra 3.0.6
            Reporter: Matt Kopit


If you are using CQLSSTableWriter to bulk load data into sstables the only way to handle fields without values is by setting them to NULL, which results in the generation of a tombstoned field in the resulting sstable. For a large dataset this can result in a large number of tombstones.

CQLSSTableWriter is currently instantiated with a single INSERT statement, so it's not an option to modify the insert statement to specify different fields on a per-row basis.

Here are three potential solutions to this problem:
1. Change the default behavior of how NULLs so those fields are not written to the sstable
2. Create a configuration option for CQLSSTableWriter that governs whether NULLs should be ignored.
3. Invent a new constant that represents an UNSET value which can be used in place of NULL



--
This message was sent by Atlassian JIRA
(v6.3.4#6332)