Details
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Bug
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Status: Open
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Trivial
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Resolution: Unresolved
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2.7.1
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None
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None
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Content in documentation
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Correction in document regarding Secondary Node, Checkpoint Node & Backup node responsibilities
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HDFS Users Guide
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Important
Description
I checked with many people and almost all of them are confused on responsibilities of Secondary Node, Checkpoint Node and Backup node.
Link:
http://hadoop.apache.org/docs/r2.7.1/hadoop-project-dist/hadoop-hdfs/HdfsUserGuide.html
Confusion:
Secondary NameNode
The NameNode stores modifications to the file system as a log appended to a native file system file, edits. When a NameNode starts up, it reads HDFS state from an image file, fsimage, and then applies edits from the edits log file. It then writes new HDFS state to the fsimage and starts normal operation with an empty edits file. Since NameNode merges fsimage and edits files only during start up, the edits log file could get very large over time on a busy cluster. Another side effect of a larger edits file is that next restart of NameNode takes longer.
The secondary NameNode merges the fsimage and the edits log files periodically and keeps edits log size within a limit. It is usually run on a different machine than the primary NameNode since its memory requirements are on the same order as the primary NameNode.
Checkpoint Node
NameNode persists its namespace using two files: fsimage, which is the latest checkpoint of the namespace and edits, a journal (log) of changes to the namespace since the checkpoint. When a NameNode starts up, it merges the fsimage and edits journal to provide an up-to-date view of the file system metadata. The NameNode then overwrites fsimage with the new HDFS state and begins a new edits journal.
Backup Node
The Backup node provides the same checkpointing functionality as the Checkpoint node, as well as maintaining an in-memory, up-to-date copy of the file system namespace that is always synchronized with the active NameNode state. Along with accepting a journal stream of file system edits from the NameNode and persisting this to disk, the Backup node also applies those edits into its own copy of the namespace in memory, thus creating a backup of the namespace.
Now all three nodes have overlapping functionalities. To add confusion to this point,
http://hadoop.apache.org/docs/r2.7.1/hadoop-project-dist/hadoop-hdfs/HdfsDesign.html
quotes that NameNode will never make RPC call to other nodes.
The Communication Protocols
All HDFS communication protocols are layered on top of the TCP/IP protocol. A client establishes a connection to a configurable TCP port on the NameNode machine. It talks the ClientProtocol with the NameNode. The DataNodes talk to the NameNode using the DataNode Protocol. A Remote Procedure Call (RPC) abstraction wraps both the Client Protocol and the DataNode Protocol. By design, the NameNode never initiates any RPCs. Instead, it only responds to RPC requests issued by DataNodes or clients.
We need clarification regarding these points. Please enhance your documentation to avoid confusion among readers.
1) Secondary Node, Check point Node & Backup node - Clear separation of roles
2) For High Availability, do we require only One of them Or Two of them or All of them? If it's not all of them, what combination is allowed?
3) Without RPC by Name node to data nodes, how writes and read are happening?
