Overview of Parcels

A parcel is a binary distribution format containing the program files, along with additional metadata used by Cloudera Manager. The important differences between parcels and packages are:

• Parcels are self-contained and installed in a versioned directory, which means that multiple versions of a given parcel can be installed side-by-side. You can then designate one of these installed versions as the active one. With packages, only one package can be installed at a time so there is no distinction between what is installed and what is active.
• Parcels are required for rolling upgrades.
• You can install parcels at any location in the filesystem. They are installed by default in /opt/cloudera/parcels. In contrast, packages are installed in /usr/lib.
• When you install from the Parcels page, Cloudera Manager automatically downloads, distributes, and activates the correct parcel for the operating system running on each host in the cluster. All hosts that make up a logical cluster must run on the same major OS release to be covered by Cloudera Support. Cloudera Manager must run on the same major OS release as at least one of the clusters it manages, to be covered by Cloudera Support. The risk of issues caused by running different minor OS releases is considered lower than the risk of running different major OS releases. Cloudera recommends running the same minor release cross-cluster, because it simplifies issue tracking and supportability.