This is the documentation for Cloudera Manager 5.1.x. Documentation for other versions is available at Cloudera Documentation.

Cloudera Manager Frequently Asked Questions

This guide answers frequently asked questions about Cloudera Manager.

General Questions

What are the new features of Cloudera Manager 5?

For a list of new features in Cloudera Manager 5, see http://www.cloudera.com/content/cloudera-content/cloudera-docs/CM5/latest/Cloudera-Manager-Release-Notes/cm5rn_new_changed_features.html.

What operating systems are supported?

See Supported Operating Systems for more detailed information on which operating systems are supported.

What databases are supported?

See Supported Databases for more detailed information on which database systems are supported.

What version of CDH is supported for Cloudera Manager 5?

See Supported CDH and Managed Service Versions for detailed information.

What are the differences between the Cloudera Express and the Cloudera Enterprise versions of Cloudera Manager?

Cloudera Express includes a free version of Cloudera Manager. The Cloudera Enterprise version of Cloudera Manager provides additional functionality. Both the Cloudera Express and Cloudera Enterprise versions automate the installation, configuration, and monitoring of CDH 4 or CDH 5 on an entire cluster. See the matrix at Cloudera Express and Cloudera Enterprise Features for a comparison of the two versions.

The Cloudera Enterprise version of Cloudera Manager is available as part of the Cloudera Enterprise subscription offering, and requires a license. You can also choose a Cloudera Enterprise Data Hub Edition Trial that is valid for 60 days.

If you are not an existing Cloudera customer, contact Cloudera Sales using this form or call 866-843-7207 to obtain a Cloudera Enterprise license. If you are already a Cloudera customer and you need to upgrade from Cloudera Expressto Cloudera Enterprise, contact Cloudera Support to obtain a license.

Are there different types of Cloudera Enterprise licenses?

There are three editions of Cloudera Enterprise:
  • Basic Edition offers an enterprise-ready distribution of Apache Hadoop together with Cloudera Manager and other advanced management tools and technical support.
  • Flex Edition offers an enterprise-ready distribution of Apache Hadoop together with Cloudera Manager and other advanced management tools and technical support. In addition, the Flex Edition includes open source indemnification, an optional premium support extension for mission-critical environments, and your choice of one of the following advanced components: Apache Accumulo or Apache HBase for online NoSQL storage and applications; Cloudera Impala for interactive analytic SQL queries; Cloudera Search for interactive search; Cloudera Navigator for data management including data auditing, lineage, and discovery; or Apache Spark for interactive analytics and stream processing.
  • Data Hub Edition offers an enterprise-ready distribution of Apache Hadoop together with Cloudera Manager and other advanced management tools and technical support. In addition, the Data Hub Edition includes open source indemnification, an optional premium support extension for mission-critical environments, and unlimited use of all of the following advanced components: Apache Accumulo and Apache HBase for online NoSQL storage and applications; Cloudera Impala for interactive analytic SQL queries; Cloudera Search for interactive search; Cloudera Navigator for data management including data auditing, lineage, and discovery, and Apache Spark for interactive analytics and stream processing.

Can I upgrade CDH using Cloudera Manager?

You can upgrade to CDH 4.1.2 or later from within the Cloudera Manager Admin Console using parcels. Furthermore, once you have installed or upgraded CDH using parcels, you can perform rolling upgrades on your CDH services. If you have HDFS High Availability configured and enabled, you can perform a rolling upgrade on your cluster without taking the entire cluster down.

  Warning: Cloudera Manager 3 and CDH 3 have reached End of Maintenance (EOM) as of June 20, 2013. Cloudera does not support or provide patches for Cloudera Manager 3 and CDH 3 releases.
For instructions on upgrading from CDH 3 to CDH 4, see Upgrading CDH 3 to CDH 4 in a Cloudera Manager Deployment.

For instructions on upgrading CDH 4 to CDH 5, see Upgrading to CDH 5. For instructions on upgrading CDH 4 to a newer version, see Upgrading CDH 4.

What version of CDH does Cloudera Manager 5 install?

Cloudera Manager 5 allows you to install any version of CDH 4 or CDH 5.

Where are CDH libraries located when I distribute CDH using parcels?

With parcel software distribution, the path to the CDH libraries is /opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH/lib/ instead of the usual /usr/lib/.

What upgrade paths are available for Cloudera Manager, and what's involved?

For instructions about upgrading, see Upgrading Cloudera Manager.

How do I install Cloudera Manager 5 in a walled-off environment (no Internet access)?

You can set up a local repository and use it in the installer. For instructions, see Understanding Custom Installation Solutions.

Do worker hosts need access to the Cloudera public repositories for an install with Cloudera Manager?

You can perform an installation or upgrade using the parcel format and when using parcels, only the Cloudera Manager Server requires access to the Cloudera public repositories. Distribution of the parcels to worker hosts is done between the Cloudera Manager Server and the worker hosts. See Parcels for more information. If you want to install using the traditional packages, hosts only require access to the installation files.

For both parcels and packages, it is also possible to create local repositories that serve these files to the hosts that are being upgraded. If you have established local repositories, no access to the Cloudera public repository is required. For more information, see Creating and Using a Package Repository.

Can I use the service monitoring features of Cloudera Manager without the Cloudera Management Service?

No. To understand the desired state of the system, Cloudera Manager requires the global configuration that the Cloudera Management Service roles gather and provide. The Cloudera Manager Agent doubles as both the agent for supervision and for monitoring.

Can I run the Cloudera Management Service and the Hadoop services on the host where the Cloudera Manager Server is running?

Yes. This is especially common in deployments that have a small number of hosts.

Which sudo commands does Cloudera Manager run?

The sudo commands are:
  • yum (Red Hat/CentOS/Oracle)
  • zypper (SLES)
  • apt-get (Debian/Ubuntu)
  • apt-key (Debian/Ubuntu)
  • sed
  • service
  • /sbin/chkconfig (Red Hat/CentOS/Oracle)
  • /usr/sbin/update-rc.d (Debian/Ubuntu)
  • id
  • rm
  • mv
  • chown
  • install

Does Cloudera Manager Support an API?

Yes. A comprehensive set of APIs for the various features is supported in this version of Cloudera Manager. For more information about the Cloudera Manager API, see Cloudera Manager API. You can download this Cloudera Manager API example that shows how to integrate with Nagios or other systems.

Using Cloudera Manager

How do I set the rack topology script?

Cloudera Manager includes internal rack awareness scripts, but you must specify the racks where the hosts in your cluster are located. If your cluster contains more than 10 hosts, Cloudera recommends that you specify the rack for each host. HDFS and MapReduce will automatically use the racks you specify. For instructions, see Specifying a Rack for Hosts.

How do I configure my daemons to use a custom GC parameter?

Every Java-based role in Cloudera Manager has a configuration setting called Java Configuration Options for role where you can enter command line options. Commonly, garbage collection flags or extra debugging flags would be passed here. To find the appropriate configuration setting, select the service you want to modify in the Cloudera Manager Admin Console, then use the Search box to search for Java Configuration Options.

You can add configuration options for all instances of a given role by making this configuration change at the service level. For example, to modify the setting for all DataNodes, select the HDFS service, then modify the Java Configuration Options for DataNode setting.

To modify a configuration option for a given instance of a role, select the service, then select the particular role instance (for example, a specific DataNode) you want to modify. The configuration settings you modify will apply to the selected role instance only.

For detailed instructions see Modifying Configuration Properties.

Page generated September 3, 2015.