With the configuration complete, start up your node.
If you used the Tarball install:
bin/cassandra -p cassandra.pid
It is not recommended to run Cassandra as the root user or as a user with access to sudo. You should create a Cassandra user, and ensure that Cassandra runs as that user instead.
If you used apt-get for the install:
sudo service cassandra start
Cassandra comes with the nodetool utility, which is very useful for performing operational duties, as well as for assessing the health of your node and/or cluster. To verify that your node has started, running a nodetool status should return information on your cluster, based on the gossip information held by the node that you are logged into:
nodetool statusDatacenter: ...
