Install Cassandra with Ruby 1.9.1 on Windows

To get it done is not easy. I spent a whole day to figure out the various compatibility issues along the way out.
Now there still might be potential issues, but it works by my rough test.

Step 1: Install Apache Cassandra
  You may know that the Ruby gem cassandra will do it for you.
  To me, I simply want to keep Cassandra independent from Ruby stuff, to ease the upgrade and administration.
  Refer to my blog "Setup Cassandra on Windows"

  (http://blog.youkuaiyun.com/goodxp/archive/2010/02/26/5327732.aspx) for details.

Step 2: Install Thrift (0.2.0)
  If you do "gem install cassandra", it should install thrift automatically (being a dependency).
  However, there is a compatibility issue on thrift with Ruby 1.9, so to fail Cassandra gem installation.
  It will be better to install thrift first and fix it before installing cassandra gem.
  Refer to my blog "fix thrift 0.2.0 installation with ruby 1.9.1"

  (http://blog.youkuaiyun.com/goodxp/archive/2010/02/28/5333145.aspx) for details.
 
Step 3: Install gem Cassandra
  This part is easy:
 
  $ gem install cassandra

  Do NOT do this: "$ cassandra_helper cassandra". It does not work.
  I did not dig deeper since I already have a working up-to-date version of Cassandra 0.5.0 installed.
  Switch to Cassandra bin folder and start cassandra server:

  $ cassandra -f
 
  Open another command console window:
 
  $ irb
  irb> require 'rubygems'
  irb> require 'cassandra'
 
  If you see a warning pop-up window asking for "msvcrt-ruby18.dll", do this:
 
  irb> quit
  $ gem uninstall json
 
  Don't worry, Ruby 1.9 has a good json support.
  Now run irb again as above, and then:
 
  irb> include Cassandra::Constants
  irb> db = Cassandra.new 'Keyspace1'
  irb> niceguy = {'name' => 'goodxp'}
  irb> db.insert (:Standard1, '10', niceguy)
 
  Keyspace1 and Standard1 are the sample config for Cassandra. This should work if you did not change schema yet.
  Now we can check whether the data were inserted. To be sure, let's use cassandra command line client:
 
  irb> quit
  $ cassandra-cli
  cassandra> connect localhost/9160
  cassandra> get Keyspace1.Standard1['10']
 
  You should see the niceguy 'name' 'goodxp' shows up. It means your Ruby API just works.