Installing Kudu

To install and manage Kudu using Cloudera Manager, first download the Custom Service Descriptor (CSD) file for Kudu and upload it to /opt/cloudera/csd/ on the Cloudera Manager server. Restart the Cloudera Manager server using the following operating system command. 
$ sudo service cloudera-scm-server restart

Next, follow the instructions in either Install Kudu Using Parcels or Install Kudu Using Packages.

Install Kudu Using Parcels

After uploading the CSD file for Kudu and restarting the Cloudera Manager server, follow these steps to install Kudu using parcels.
  1. In Cloudera Manager, go to Hosts > Parcels. Find KUDU in the list, and click Download.
  2. When the download is complete, select your cluster from the Locations selector, and click Distribute. If you only have one cluster, it is selected automatically.
  3. When distribution is complete, click Activate to activate the parcel. Restart the cluster when prompted. This may take several minutes.
  4. Install the Kudu service on your cluster. Go to the cluster where you want to install Kudu. Click Actions > Add a Service. Select Kudu from the list, and click Continue.
  5. Select a host for the master role and one or more hosts for the tablet server roles. A host can act as both a master and a tablet server, but this may cause performance problems on a large cluster. The Kudu master process is not resource-intensive and can be collocated with other similar processes such as the HDFS Namenode or YARN ResourceManager. After selecting hosts, click Continue.
  6. Configure the storage locations for Kudu data and write-ahead log (WAL) files on masters and tablet servers. Cloudera Manager will create the directories.
    • You can use the same directory to store data and WALs.
    • You cannot store WALs in a subdirectory of the data directory.
    • If any host is both a master and tablet server, configure different directories for master and tablet server. For instance, /data/kudu/master and /data/kudu/tserver.
    • If you choose a filesystem that does not support hole punching, service start-up will fail. Only if service start-up fails for this reason, exit the wizard by clicking the Cloudera logo at the top left, and enable the file block manager. This is not appropriate for production. See Enabling the File Block Manager.
  7. If your filesystem does support hole punching, do not exit the wizard. Click Continue. Kudu masters and tablet servers are started. Otherwise, go to the Kudu service, and click Actions > Start.
  8. Verify that services are running using one of the following methods:
    • Examine the output of the ps command on servers to verify one or both of kudu-master or kudu-tserver processes is running.
    • Access the master or tablet server web UI by opening the URL in your web browser. The URL is http://<_host_name_>:8051/ for masters or http://<_host_name_>:8050/ for tablet servers.
  9. Restart the Service Monitor to begin generating health checks and charts for Kudu. Go to the Cloudera Manager service and click Service Monitor. Choose Actions > Restart.
  10. To manage roles, go to the Kudu service and use the Actions menu to stop, start, restart, or otherwise manage the service.

Enabling the File Block Manager

If your underlying filesystem does not support hole punching, Kudu will not start unless you enable the file block manager. This is not appropriate for production systems. If your filesystem does support hole punching, there is no reason to use the file block manager.

  1. If you are still in the Cloudera configuration wizard, exit the configuration wizard by clicking the Cloudera logo at the top of the Cloudera Manager interface.
  2. Go to the Kudu service.
  3. Go to Configuration and search for the Kudu Service Advanced Configuration Snippet (Safety Valve) for gflagfile configuration option.
  4. Add the following line to it, and save your changes: 
    --block_manager=file

Install Kudu Using Packages

If you use packages with Cloudera Manager, follow these instructions after uploading the CSD file for Kudu and restarting the Cloudera Manager server.
Kudu Repository and Package Links
Operating System Repository Package Individual Packages
RHEL RHEL 6 or RHEL 7 RHEL 6
Ubuntu Trusty, Xenial Trusty, Xenial
SLES SLES 12 SLES 12
Debian Jessie Jessie
  1. Cloudera recommends installing the Kudu repositories for your operating system. Use the links in Kudu Repository and Package Links to download the appropriate repository installer. Save the repository installer to /etc/yum.repos.d/ for RHEL or /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for Ubuntu.
    • If you use Cloudera Manager, you only need to install the kudu package: 
      $ sudo yum install kudu
      $ sudo apt-get install kudu
    • If you need the C++ client development libraries or the Kudu SDK, install kudu-client and kudu-client-devel packages for RHEL, or libkuduclient0 and libkuduclient-dev packages for Ubuntu.
    • If you use Cloudera Manager, do not install the kudu-master and kudu-tserver packages, which provide operating system startup scripts for using Kudu without Cloudera Manager.
  2. Install the Kudu service on your cluster. Go to the cluster where you want to install Kudu. Click Actions > Add a Service. Select Kudu from the list, and click Continue.
  3. Select a host for the master role and one or more hosts for the tablet server roles. A host can act as both a master and a tablet server, but this may cause performance problems on a large cluster. The Kudu master process is not resource-intensive and can be collocated with other similar processes such as the HDFS Namenode or YARN ResourceManager. After selecting hosts, click Continue.
  4. Configure the storage locations for Kudu data and write-ahead log (WAL) files on masters and tablet servers. Cloudera Manager will create the directories.
    • You can use the same directory to store data and WALs.
    • You cannot store WALs in a subdirectory of the data directory.
    • If any host is both a master and tablet server, configure different directories for master and tablet server. For instance, /data/kudu/master and /data/kudu/tserver.
    • If you choose a filesystem that does not support hole punching, service start-up will fail. Only if service start-up fails for this reason, exit the wizard by clicking the Cloudera logo at the top left, and enable the file block manager. This is not appropriate for production. See Enabling the File Block Manager.
  5. If your filesystem does support hole punching, do not exit the wizard. Click Continue. Kudu masters and tablet servers are started. Otherwise, go to the Kudu service, and click Actions > Start.
  6. Verify that services are running using one of the following methods:
    • Examine the output of the ps command on servers to verify one or both of kudu-master or kudu-tserver processes is running.
    • Access the master or tablet server web UI by opening the URL in your web browser. The URL is http://<_host_name_>:8051/ for masters or http://<_host_name_>:8050/ for tablet servers.
  7. Restart the Service Monitor to begin generating health checks and charts for Kudu. Go to the Cloudera Manager service and click Service Monitor. Choose Actions > Restart.
  8. To manage roles, go to the Kudu service and use the Actions menu to stop, start, restart, or otherwise manage the service.