NetBackup Cassandra discovery fails with cqlsh error "Please use a credentials file to specify the username and password" and Cluster status goes to invalid/unknown state

Problem

NetBackup Cassandra discovery fails with cqlsh error "Please use a credentials file to specify the username and password" and Cluster status goes to invalid/unknown state.

Error Message

Notice: Credentials in the cqlshrc file is deprecated and will be ignored in the future. Please use a credentials file to specify the username and password

Cause

In Apache Cassandra 4.1 or later, if the cqlshrc configuration file is already present in the ~/.cassandra/ directory within the user's home directory, but it does not include the credentials file path (which specifies the username and password), this issue may appear on the Apache Cassandra cluster's status page.

Solution

If Cassandra discovery fails and the CQLSH error "Please use a credentials file to specify the username and password" occurs, with the cluster status going to an invalid/unknown state, perform one of the options below:

Note: Before proceeding, verify that the cqlshrc configuration file exists by navigating to the ~/.cassandra/ directory within the home directory.

Option 1: Create a credentials file and update the existing cqlshrc file:

•    Create a new credentials file containing the Cassandra username and password.
•    Update the existing cqlshrc file to point to the correct path of the credentials file.

Option 2: Delete the existing cqlshrc File:

•    Delete the existing cqlshrc file from the ~/.cassandra/ directory.