/* Establish a thrift connection to the cassandra instance */
TSocket socket = new TSocket(server, port);
TTransport transport;
System.out.println(" connected to " + server + ":" + port + ".");
transport = socket;
TBinaryProtocol binaryProtocol = new TBinaryProtocol(transport, false, false);
Cassandra.Client cassandraClient = new Cassandra.Client(binaryProtocol);
transport.open();
thriftClient = cassandraClient;
}