Parcels

Downloading a Parcel

1. Click the parcel indicator in the top navigation bar. This takes you to the Hosts page, Parcels tab. By default, any parcels available for download are shown in the Downloadable section of the Parcels page. Parcels available for download will display a Download button.

   If the parcel you want is not shown here — for example, you want to upgrade to version of CDH that is not the most current version — you can make additional remote parcel repositories available through the Administration Settings page. You can also configure the location of the local parcel repository and other settings. See Parcel Configuration Settings.

2. Click Download to initiate the download of the parcel from the remote parcel repository to your local repository.

When the parcel has been downloaded, the button label changes to Distribute.

Distributing a Parcel

Parcels that have been downloaded can be distributed to the hosts in your cluster, available for activation.

From the Parcels tab, click the Distribute button for the parcel you want to distribute. This starts the distribution process to the hosts in the cluster.

Distribution does not require Internet access; rather the Cloudera Manager Agent on each cluster member downloads the parcel from the local parcel repository hosted on the Cloudera Manager Server.

If you have a large number of hosts to which the parcels should be distributed, you can control how many concurrent uploads Cloudera Manager will perform. You can configure this setting on the Administration page, Properties tab under the Parcels section.

You can delete a parcel that is ready to be distributed; click the triangle at the right end of the Distribute button to access the Delete command. This will delete the downloaded parcel from the local parcel repository.

Distributing parcels to the hosts in the cluster does not affect the current running services.

Activating a Parcel

Parcels that have been distributed to the hosts in a cluster are ready to be activated.

1. From the Parcels tab, click the Activate button for the parcel you want to activate. This will update Cloudera Manager to point to the new software, ready to be run the next time a service is restarted.
2. A pop-up warns you that your currently running process will not be affected until you restart, and gives you the option to perform a restart. If you do not want to restart at this time, click Close.

If you elect not to restart services as part of the Activation process, you can instead go to the Clusters tab and restart your services at a later time. Until you restart services, the current software will continue to run. This allows you to restart your services at a time that is convenient based on your maintenance schedules or other considerations.

Activating a new parcel also deactivates the previously active parcel (if any) for the product you've just upgraded. However, until you restart the services, the previously active parcel will have the link Still in use and you will not be able to remove the parcel until it is no longer being used.

Deactivating a Parcel

You can deactivate an active parcel; this will update Cloudera Manager to point to the previous software version, ready to be run the next time a service is restarted. To deactivate a parcel, click Actions on an activated parcel and select Deactivate.

To use the previous version of the software, go to the Clusters tab and restart your services.

Removing a Parcel

To remove a parcel, click the down arrow to the right of an Activate button and select Remove from Hosts.

Deleting a Parcel

To delete a parcel, click the down arrow to the right of a Distribute button and select Delete.

Troubleshooting

If you have a parcel distributing but never completing, make sure you have enough free space in the parcel download directories, as Cloudera Manager will retry to downloading and unpacking parcels even if there is insufficient space.

Configuring Cloudera Manager Server Parcel Settings

1. Use one of the following methods to open the parcel settings page:
   • Navigation bar
     1. Click in the top navigation bar
     2. Click the Edit Settings button.
   • Menu
     1. Select Administration > Settings.
     2. Click the Parcels category.
   • Tab
     1. Click the Hosts tab.
     2. Click the Configuration tab.
     3. Click the Parcels category.
     4. Click the Edit Settings button.
2. Specify a property:
   • Local Parcel Repository Path defines the path on the Cloudera Manager Server host where downloaded parcels are stored.
   • Remote Parcel Repository URLs is a list of repositories that Cloudera Manager should check for parcels. Initially this points to the latest released CDH 4, CDH 5, Impala, and Solr repositories but you can add your own repository locations to the list. You can use this mechanism to add Cloudera repositories that are not listed by default, such as older versions of CDH, or the Sentry parcel for CDH 4.3. You can also use this to add your own custom repositories. The locations of the Cloudera parcel repositories are https://archive.cloudera.com/product/parcels/version, where product is cdh4, cdh5, gplextras5, impala, search, and sentry, and version is a specific product version or latest.
     To add a parcel repository:

     1. In the Remote Parcel Repository URLs list, click to open an additional row.
     2. Enter the path to the repository.
3. Click Save Changes.

Configuring a Proxy Server

To configure a proxy server through which parcels are downloaded, follow the instructions in Configuring Network Settings.

Configuring the Host Parcel Directory