From 2.1.13 you are not allowed to change the data center of an existing node. This is to protect users from manufacturing errors, as changing the names of data centers (DC) in a live system will result in downtime.
DSE Simple Snitch assigns nodes to logical data centers based on the type of workload. I.E. solr nodes will be added to DC DC sol; Cassandra nodes will be added to the Cassandra data center. If you change the type of workload using DSE simple snitch, you will change the DC name, which is not allowed by default.
If this is a test environment and you know what you are doing (you are ready to take the downtime when all the nodes in your DC change to a new DC), you can send the following jvm flag in your cassandra-env.sh file
-Dcassandra.ignore_rack = true and / or
-Dcassandra.ignore_dc = true.
** make sure your topology remains the same after changing the DC / name, otherwise replication may be confused, and you can get a lot of streaming + CPU + io + obsolete reads **
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