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HDFS Federation
===============

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This guide provides an overview of the HDFS Federation feature and how to configure and manage the federated cluster.

Background
----------

![HDFS Layers](./images/federation-background.gif)

HDFS has two main layers:

* **Namespace**
    * Consists of directories, files and blocks.
    * It supports all the namespace related file system operations such as
      create, delete, modify and list files and directories.
* **Block Storage Service**, which has two parts:
    * Block Management (performed in the Namenode)
        * Provides Datanode cluster membership by handling registrations, and periodic heart beats.
        * Processes block reports and maintains location of blocks.
        * Supports block related operations such as create, delete, modify and
          get block location.
        * Manages replica placement, block replication for under
          replicated blocks, and deletes blocks that are over replicated.
    * Storage - is provided by Datanodes by storing blocks on the local file
      system and allowing read/write access.

    The prior HDFS architecture allows only a single namespace for the entire cluster. In that configuration, a single Namenode manages the namespace. HDFS Federation addresses this limitation by adding support for multiple Namenodes/namespaces to HDFS.

Multiple Namenodes/Namespaces
-----------------------------

In order to scale the name service horizontally, federation uses multiple independent Namenodes/namespaces. The Namenodes are federated; the Namenodes are independent and do not require coordination with each other. The Datanodes are used as common storage for blocks by all the Namenodes. Each Datanode registers with all the Namenodes in the cluster. Datanodes send periodic heartbeats and block reports. They also handle commands from the Namenodes.

Users may use [ViewFs](./ViewFs.html) to create personalized namespace views. ViewFs is analogous to client side mount tables in some Unix/Linux systems.

![HDFS Federation Architecture](./images/federation.gif)

**Block Pool**

A Block Pool is a set of blocks that belong to a single namespace. Datanodes store blocks for all the block pools in the cluster. Each Block Pool is managed independently. This allows a namespace to generate Block IDs for new blocks without the need for coordination with the other namespaces. A Namenode failure does not prevent the Datanode from serving other Namenodes in the cluster.

A Namespace and its block pool together are called Namespace Volume. It is a self-contained unit of management. When a Namenode/namespace is deleted, the corresponding block pool at the Datanodes is deleted. Each namespace volume is upgraded as a unit, during cluster upgrade.

**ClusterID**

A **ClusterID** identifier is used to identify all the nodes in the cluster. When a Namenode is formatted, this identifier is either provided or auto generated. This ID should be used for formatting the other Namenodes into the cluster.

### Key Benefits

* Namespace Scalability - Federation adds namespace horizontal
  scaling. Large deployments or deployments using lot of small files
  benefit from namespace scaling by allowing more Namenodes to be
  added to the cluster.
* Performance - File system throughput is not limited by a single
  Namenode. Adding more Namenodes to the cluster scales the file
  system read/write throughput.
* Isolation - A single Namenode offers no isolation in a multi user
  environment. For example, an experimental application can overload
  the Namenode and slow down production critical applications. By using
  multiple Namenodes, different categories of applications and users
  can be isolated to different namespaces.

Federation Configuration
------------------------

Federation configuration is **backward compatible** and allows existing single Namenode configurations to work without any change. The new configuration is designed such that all the nodes in the cluster have the same configuration without the need for deploying different configurations based on the type of the node in the cluster.

Federation adds a new `NameServiceID` abstraction. A Namenode and its corresponding secondary/backup/checkpointer nodes all belong to a NameServiceId. In order to support a single configuration file, the Namenode and secondary/backup/checkpointer configuration parameters are suffixed with the `NameServiceID`.

### Configuration:

**Step 1**: Add the `dfs.nameservices` parameter to your configuration and configure it with a list of comma separated NameServiceIDs. This will be used by the Datanodes to determine the Namenodes in the cluster.

**Step 2**: For each Namenode and Secondary Namenode/BackupNode/Checkpointer add the following configuration parameters suffixed with the corresponding `NameServiceID` into the common configuration file:

| Daemon | Configuration Parameter |
|:---- |:---- |
| Namenode | `dfs.namenode.rpc-address` `dfs.namenode.servicerpc-address` `dfs.namenode.http-address` `dfs.namenode.https-address` `dfs.namenode.keytab.file` `dfs.namenode.name.dir` `dfs.namenode.edits.dir` `dfs.namenode.checkpoint.dir` `dfs.namenode.checkpoint.edits.dir` |
| Secondary Namenode | `dfs.namenode.secondary.http-address` `dfs.secondary.namenode.keytab.file` |
| BackupNode | `dfs.namenode.backup.address` `dfs.secondary.namenode.keytab.file` |

Here is an example configuration with two Namenodes:

```xml
<configuration>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.nameservices</name>
    <value>ns1,ns2</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.rpc-address.ns1</name>
    <value>nn-host1:rpc-port</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.http-address.ns1</name>
    <value>nn-host1:http-port</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.secondary.http-address.ns1</name>
    <value>snn-host1:http-port</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.rpc-address.ns2</name>
    <value>nn-host2:rpc-port</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.http-address.ns2</name>
    <value>nn-host2:http-port</value>
  </property>
  <property>
    <name>dfs.namenode.secondary.http-address.ns2</name>
    <value>snn-host2:http-port</value>
  </property>

  .... Other common configuration ...
</configuration>
```

### Formatting Namenodes

**Step 1**: Format a Namenode using the following command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/bin/hdfs namenode -format [-clusterId <cluster_id>]

Choose a unique cluster\_id which will not conflict other clusters in your environment. If a cluster\_id is not provided, then a unique one is auto generated.

**Step 2**: Format additional Namenodes using the following command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/bin/hdfs namenode -format -clusterId <cluster_id>

Note that the cluster\_id in step 2 must be same as that of the cluster\_id in step 1. If they are different, the additional Namenodes will not be part of the federated cluster.

### Upgrading from an older release and configuring federation

Older releases only support a single Namenode. Upgrade the cluster to newer release in order to enable federation During upgrade you can provide a ClusterID as follows:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/bin/hdfs --daemon start namenode -upgrade -clusterId <cluster_ID>

If cluster\_id is not provided, it is auto generated.

### Adding a new Namenode to an existing HDFS cluster

Perform the following steps:

* Add `dfs.nameservices` to the configuration.

* Update the configuration with the NameServiceID suffix. Configuration
  key names changed post release 0.20. You must use the new configuration
  parameter names in order to use federation.

* Add the new Namenode related config to the configuration file.

* Propagate the configuration file to the all the nodes in the cluster.

* Start the new Namenode and Secondary/Backup.

* Refresh the Datanodes to pickup the newly added Namenode by running
  the following command against all the Datanodes in the cluster:

        [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/bin/hdfs dfsadmin -refreshNamenodes <datanode_host_name>:<datanode_rpc_port>

Managing the cluster
--------------------

### Starting and stopping cluster

To start the cluster run the following command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/sbin/start-dfs.sh

To stop the cluster run the following command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/sbin/stop-dfs.sh

These commands can be run from any node where the HDFS configuration is available. The command uses the configuration to determine the Namenodes in the cluster and then starts the Namenode process on those nodes. The Datanodes are started on the nodes specified in the `workers` file. The script can be used as a reference for building your own scripts to start and stop the cluster.

### Balancer

The Balancer has been changed to work with multiple Namenodes. The Balancer can be run using the command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/bin/hdfs --daemon start balancer [-policy <policy>]

The policy parameter can be any of the following:

* `datanode` - this is the *default* policy. This balances the storage at
  the Datanode level. This is similar to balancing policy from prior releases.

* `blockpool` - this balances the storage at the block pool
  level which also balances at the Datanode level.

Note that Balancer only balances the data and does not balance the namespace.
For the complete command usage, see [balancer](./HDFSCommands.html#balancer).

### Decommissioning

Decommissioning is similar to prior releases. The nodes that need to be decomissioned are added to the exclude file at all of the Namenodes. Each Namenode decommissions its Block Pool. When all the Namenodes finish decommissioning a Datanode, the Datanode is considered decommissioned.

**Step 1**: To distribute an exclude file to all the Namenodes, use the following command:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/sbin/distribute-exclude.sh <exclude_file>

**Step 2**: Refresh all the Namenodes to pick up the new exclude file:

    [hdfs]$ $HADOOP_HOME/sbin/refresh-namenodes.sh

The above command uses HDFS configuration to determine the configured Namenodes in the cluster and refreshes them to pick up the new exclude file.

### Cluster Web Console

Similar to the Namenode status web page, when using federation a Cluster Web Console is available to monitor the federated cluster at `http://<any_nn_host:port>/dfsclusterhealth.jsp`. Any Namenode in the cluster can be used to access this web page.

The Cluster Web Console provides the following information:

* A cluster summary that shows the number of files, number of blocks,
  total configured storage capacity, and the available and used storage
  for the entire cluster.

* A list of Namenodes and a summary that includes the number of files,
  blocks, missing blocks, and live and dead data nodes for each
  Namenode. It also provides a link to access each Namenode's web UI.

* The decommissioning status of Datanodes.