Refactor Cassandra baseline testing instructions for clarity and conciseness

Author: madeline-underwood

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/cassandra-on-gcp/baseline.md

@@ -1,17 +1,12 @@
 ---
-title: Apache Cassandra baseline testing on Google Axion C4A Arm Virtual machine
+title: Test Cassandra baseline functionality
 weight: 5
 
 ### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
 layout: learningpathall
 ---
 
-
-Since Cassandra has been successfully installed on your GCP C4A Arm virtual machine, follow these steps to verify that it is running and functioning properly.
-
-## Baseline Testing for Apache Cassandra
-
-This guide helps verify the installation and perform baseline testing of **Apache Cassandra**.
+Now that Cassandra is installed on your GCP C4A Arm virtual machine, verify that it's running and functioning properly.
 
 ## Start Cassandra
 
@@ -21,20 +16,23 @@ Run Cassandra in the background:
 cassandra -R
 ```
 
-The `-R` flag allows Cassandra to run in the background as a daemon, so you can continue using the terminal. The first startup may take **30–60 seconds** as it initializes the necessary files and processes.
+The `-R` flag allows Cassandra to run in the background as a daemon. The first startup may take 30–60 seconds as it initializes.
 
 Check logs to ensure Cassandra started successfully:
 
 ```console
 tail -f ~/cassandra/logs/system.log
 ```
-Look for the message **"Startup complete"**, which indicates Cassandra is fully initialized.
 
-### Check Cassandra Status
+Look for the message "Startup complete", which indicates Cassandra is fully initialized.
+
+## Check Cassandra status
+
 ```console
 nodetool status
 ```
-You should see an output similar to:
+
+The output is similar to:
 
 ```output
 Datacenter: datacenter1
@@ -44,29 +42,34 @@ Status=Up/Down
 --  Address    Load        Tokens  Owns (effective)  Host ID                               Rack
 UN  127.0.0.1  162.51 KiB  16      100.0%            78774686-39f3-47e7-87c3-3abc4f02a835  rack1
 ```
-The `nodetool status` command displays the health and status of your Cassandra node(s). For a single-node setup, the output should indicate that the node is **Up (U)** and **Normal (N)**. This confirms that your Cassandra instance is running and ready to accept queries.
 
-### Connect with CQLSH (Cassandra Query Shell)
-**cqlsh** is the interactive command-line shell for Cassandra. It allows you to run Cassandra Query Language (CQL) commands to interact with your database, create keyspaces and tables, insert data, and perform queries.
+For a single-node setup, the output should indicate that the node is Up (U) and Normal (N), confirming that your Cassandra instance is running and ready to accept queries.
+
+### Connect with CQLSH
+
+`cqlsh` is the interactive command-line shell for Cassandra that allows you to run Cassandra Query Language (CQL) commands.
 
 ```console
 cqlsh
 ```
-You’ll enter the CQL (Cassandra Query Language) shell.
 
-### Create a Keyspace (like a database)
-A **keyspace** in Cassandra is similar to a database in SQL systems. Here, we create a simple keyspace `testks` with a **replication factor of 1**, meaning data will only be stored on one node (suitable for a single-node setup).
+You'll enter the CQL (Cassandra Query Language) shell.
+
+### Create a keyspace
+
+A keyspace in Cassandra is similar to a database in SQL systems. Create a simple keyspace `testks` with a replication factor of 1 (suitable for a single-node setup):
 
 ```sql
 CREATE KEYSPACE testks WITH replication = {'class':'SimpleStrategy','replication_factor' : 1};
 ```
-Check if created:
+
+Verify the keyspace was created:
 
 ```sql
 DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;
 ```
 
-You should see an output similar to:
+The output is similar to:
 
 ```output
 cqlsh> DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;
@@ -75,8 +78,9 @@ system       system_distributed  system_traces  system_virtual_schema
 system_auth  system_schema       system_views   testks
 ```
 
-### Create a Table
-Tables in Cassandra are used to store structured data. This step creates a `users` table with three columns: `id` (unique identifier), `name` (text), and `age` (integer). The `id` column is the primary key.
+### Create a table
+
+Create a `users` table with three columns:
 
 ```sql
 USE testks;
@@ -88,22 +92,24 @@ CREATE TABLE users (
 );
 ```
 
-### Insert Data
-We insert two sample rows into the `users` table. The `uuid()` function generates a unique identifier for each row, which ensures that every user entry has a unique primary key.
+### Insert data
+
+Insert two sample rows into the `users` table. The `uuid()` function generates a unique identifier for each row:
 
 ```sql
 INSERT INTO users (id, name, age) VALUES (uuid(), 'Alice', 30);
 INSERT INTO users (id, name, age) VALUES (uuid(), 'Bob', 25);
 ```
 
-### Query Data
-This command retrieves all rows from the `users` table. Successful retrieval confirms that data insertion works correctly and that queries return expected results.
+### Query data
+
+Retrieve all rows from the `users` table:
 
 ```sql
 SELECT * FROM users;
 ```
 
-You should see an output similar to:
+The output is similar to:
 
 ```output
  id                                   | age | name
@@ -114,6 +120,6 @@ You should see an output similar to:
 (2 rows)
 ```
 
-This baseline test verifies that Cassandra 5.0.5 is installed and running correctly on the VM. It confirms the node status, allows connection via `cqlsh`, and ensures basic operations like creating a keyspace, table, inserting, and querying data work as expected.
+This baseline test verifies that Cassandra 5.0.5 is installed and running correctly on the VM, confirming node status, CQLSH connectivity, and basic database operations.
 
-Please now press "Ctrl-D" to exit the Cassandra Query Shell. 
+Press Ctrl-D to exit the Cassandra Query Shell.