In each family, both CF and SCF, data are grouped by rows. Just to give an idea ...
Super Column Family Name{ Row 1 { SuperColumn1 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value} SuperColumn2 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value, ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value} } Row N { SuperColumn1 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value} SuperColumn2 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value} SuperColumn3 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value} } } Column Family Name { Row1 { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ..... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value } RowN { Column1 Key: Column1 Value ..... ColumnN Key: ColumnN Value } } Your representation looks like a SCF ... detailed_log: { // supercolumnfamily username : { // row uuid // supercolumn identifier { { price : 100 } // column price { min : 10 } column min { max : 500 }, // column max } uuid // supercolumn identifier { { price : 100 } // column price { min : 10 } column min { max : 500 }, // column max } } } detailed_log can contains from 0 to N rows and each row can contain from 0 to N SuperColumns. Each SuperColumn can contain from 0 to N columns. >SELECT * FROM detailed_log WHERE username = 'foobar' AND uuid RANGE( >start_UUID -> end_UUID ); I would say in Pelops (java) Client i Use is something like this ... .... getSuperColumnsFromRow(/** * Retrieve super columns from a row * @param rowKey The key of the row * @param columnFamily The name of the column family containing the super columns * @param colPredicate The super column selector predicate * @param cLevel The Cassandra consistency level with which to perform the operation * @return A list of matching columns */) List<SuperColumn> result = selector.getSuperColumnsFromRow(username," detailed_log", Selector.newColumnsPredicateAll(false, howmany), ConsistencyLevel.ONE); This will retrieve "howmany" SuperColumns, sorted by your Storage Conf sorting definition, from the row username. Hope this helps. Best Regards Carlo