cassandra_storage_count_hints_in_progress

Rising cassandra_storage_count_hints while all nodes appear up in nodetool status indicates silent network partitions or zombie nodes that accept gossip but fail write requests. This causes eventual consistency drift between replicas.

Growing cassandra_storage_count_hints indicates a replica node is unreachable or unable to accept writes, forcing coordinators to buffer writes temporarily. Persistent growth during apparent cluster health suggests network partitions or zombie nodes.