code: protected boolean initiateClient()
      {
          Throwable message = null;
  
          for (String host : hosts)
          {
              if (host == null || !StringUtils.isNumeric(port) || port.isEmpty())
              {
                  log.error("Host or port should not be null, Port should be numeric.");
                  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Host or port should not be null, Port should be numeric.");
              }
              int thriftPort = externalProperties.get(CassandraConstants.THRIFT_PORT) != null ? Integer
                      .parseInt((String) externalProperties.get(CassandraConstants.THRIFT_PORT)) : Integer.parseInt(port);
              TSocket socket = new TSocket(host, thriftPort);
              TTransport transport = new TFramedTransport(socket);
              TProtocol protocol = new TBinaryProtocol(transport, true, true);
              cassandra_client = new Cassandra.Client(protocol);
              try
              {
                  if (!socket.isOpen())
                  {
                      socket.open();
                      if (userName != null)
                      {
                          Map<String, String> credentials = new HashMap<String, String>();
                          credentials.put("username", userName);
                          credentials.put("password", password);
                          AuthenticationRequest auth_request = new AuthenticationRequest(credentials);
                          cassandra_client.login(auth_request);
                      }
                  }
                  return true;
              }
              catch (TTransportException e)
              {
                  message = e;
                  log.warn("Error while opening socket for host {}, skipping for next available node ", host);
              }
              catch (Exception e)
              {
                  log.error("Error during creating schema in cassandra, Caused by: .", e);
                  throw new SchemaGenerationException(e, "Cassandra");
              }
          }
          throw new SchemaGenerationException("Error while opening socket, Caused by: .", message, "Cassandra");
      }
docs: initiate client method initiates the client.
  
  @return boolean value ie client started or not.