Cloudera Navigator 2 Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cloudera Navigator a module of Cloudera Manager?

Cloudera Navigator sits side-by-side with and complements Cloudera Manager. What Cloudera Manager is to managing services, Cloudera Navigator is to managing all the data stored in those services. Cloudera Navigator provides three categories of functionality:
  • Auditing data access and verifying access privileges - The goal of auditing is to capture a complete and immutable record of all activity within a system. While Hadoop has historically lacked centralized cross-component audit capabilities, products such as Cloudera Navigator add secured, real-time audit components to key data and access frameworks. Cloudera Navigator allows administrators to configure, collect, and view audit events, to understand who accessed what data and how. Cloudera Navigator also allows administrators to generate reports that list the HDFS access permissions granted to groups.
  • Searching metadata and visualizing lineage - Cloudera Navigator metadata management features allow DBAs, data modelers, business analysts, and data scientists to search for, amend the properties of, and tag data entities.
  • Securing data and simplifying storage and management of encryption keys - Data encryption and key management provide a critical layer of protection against potential threats by malicious actors on the network or in the data center. It is also a requirement for meeting key compliance initiatives and ensuring the integrity of your enterprise data.

The Cloudera Navigator data management component is implemented as two roles in the Cloudera Management Service: Navigator Audit Server and Navigator Metadata Server. You can add Cloudera Navigator data management roles while installing Cloudera Manager for the first time or into an existing Cloudera Manager installation. For information on compatible Cloudera Navigator and Cloudera Manager versions, see the Product Compatibility Matrix for Cloudera Navigator product compatibility matrix.

Cloudera Navigator encryption is implemented as three services:
  • Cloudera Navigator Key Trustee Server is an enterprise-grade virtual safe-deposit box that stores and manages cryptographic keys and other security artifacts.
  • Cloudera Navigator Key HSM allows Cloudera Navigator Key Trustee Server to seamlessly integrate with a hardware security module (HSM).
  • Cloudera Navigator Encrypt transparently encrypts and secures data at rest without requiring changes to your applications and ensures there is minimal performance lag in the encryption or decryption process.

Is Cloudera Navigator included with a Cloudera Enterprise Data Hub Edition license?

Yes. Cloudera Navigator is included with Cloudera Enterprise Data Hub Edition license and can be selected as a choice with a Cloudera Enterprise Flex Edition license.

Can Cloudera Navigator be purchased standalone, that is, without Cloudera Manager?

Cloudera Navigator components are managed by Cloudera Manager. Therefore, Cloudera Manager is a prerequisite for Cloudera Navigator.

What Cloudera Manager, CDH, and Cloudera Impala releases does Cloudera Navigator 2 work with?

See Cloudera Navigator 2 Requirements and Supported Versions.

Is Cloudera Navigator open source or closed source?

Cloudera Navigator is a closed-source management tool that adds to the Cloudera suite of management capabilities for Hadoop.

How are Cloudera Navigator logs different from Cloudera Manager logs?

Cloudera Navigator tracks and aggregates only the accesses to the data stored in CDH services and used for audit reports and analysis. Cloudera Manager monitors and logs all the activity performed by CDH services that helps administrators maintain the health of the cluster. The target audiences of these logs are different but together they provide better visibility into both the data access and system activity for an enterprise cluster.