Replication != backup, if you/someone accidentally/maliciously screw up your data with the API, the screw ups are replicated as well, especially with Cassandra, where there is no builtin data versioning.
Backups are essential when you're doing major upgrades or data migrations/mangling that can fail.
OTOH, data export is not an inherent problem of distributed database either. If enough people want the feature, they can be built without too much fuss.
Obviously. The context was using snapshots as backups -- you can keep them around indefinitely, space permitting, and if you're using Cassandra's multi-datacenter features they're automatically "remote" as well.
> especially with Cassandra, where there is no builtin data versioning
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, versioning != backup, either. :)
Backups are essential when you're doing major upgrades or data migrations/mangling that can fail.
OTOH, data export is not an inherent problem of distributed database either. If enough people want the feature, they can be built without too much fuss.