Since I could not come up nor find a satisfying answer I decided to define my connection pragmatically and to use a simple query:
private ColumnFamilyResult<String, String> readFromDb(Keyspace keyspace) {
ColumnFamilyTemplate<String, String> template = new ThriftColumnFamilyTemplate<String, String>(keyspace, tableName, StringSerializer.get(),
StringSerializer.get());
// It doesn't matter if the column actually exists or not since we only check the
// connection. In case of connection failure an exception is thrown,
// else something comes back.
return template.queryColumns("some_column");
}
And my test checks that the returned object in not null.
Another way that works fine:
public boolean isConnected() {
List<KeyspaceDefinition> keyspaces = null;
try {
keyspaces = cluster.describeKeyspaces();
} catch (HectorException e) {
return false;
}
return (!CollectionUtils.isEmpty(keyspaces));
}