Goal: backup a cluster with the minimum amount of data. Restore to be done with sstableloader
Let's start with a basic case: - six node cluster - one datacenter - RF3 - data is perfectly replicated/repaired - Manual tokens (no vnodes) - simplest strategy In this case, it is (theoretically) possible to get an perfect backup of data by storing the snapshots of two of the six nodes in the cluster due to replication factor. I once tried to parse the ring output with vnodes (256) and came to the conclusion that it was not possible with vnodes, maybe you could avoid one or two nodes of the six... tops. But I may have had an incorrect understanding of how ranges are replicated in vnodes. Would it be possible to pick only two nodes out of a six node cluster with vnodes and RF-3 that will backup the cluster?