Learning Cloudera Impala

Perform interactive, real-time in-memory analytics on large amounts of data using the massive parallel processing engine Cloudera Impala

Overview

• Step-by-step guidance to get you started with Impala on your Hadoop cluster
• Manipulate your data rapidly by writing proper SQL statements
• Explore the concepts of Impala security, administration, and troubleshooting in detail to maintain your Impala cluster

In Detail

If you have always wanted to crunch billions of rows of raw data on Hadoop in a couple of seconds, then Cloudera Impala is the number one choice for you. Cloudera Impala provides fast, interactive SQL queries directly on your Apache Hadoop data stored in HDFS or HBase. In addition to using the same unified storage platform, Impala also uses the same metadata, SQL syntax (Hive SQL), ODBC driver, and user interface (Hue Beeswax) as Apache Hive. This provides a familiar and unified platform for batch-oriented or real-time queries.

In this practical, example-oriented book, you will learn everything you need to know about Cloudera Impala so that you can get started on your very own project. The book covers everything about Cloudera Impala from installation, administration, and query processing, all the way to connectivity with other third party applications. With this book in your hand, you will find yourself empowered to play with your data in Hadoop.

As a reader of this book, you will learn about the origin of Impala and the technology behind it that allows it to run on thousands of machines. You will learn how to install, run, manage, and troubleshoot Impala in your own Hadoop cluster using the step-by-step guidance provided in the book. The book covers tenets of data processing such as loading data stored in Hadoop into Impala tables and querying data using Impala SQL statements, all with various code illustrations and a real-world example.

The book is written to get you started with Impala by providing rich information so you can understand what Impala is, what it can do for you, and finally how you can use it to achieve your objective.

What you will learn from this book

• Understand the various ways of installing Impala in your Hadoop cluster
• Use the Impala shell API to interact with Impala components
• Utilize Impala Query Language and built-in functions to play with data
• Administrate and fine-tune Impala for high availability
• Identify and troubleshoot problems in a variety of ways
• Get acquainted with various input data formats in Hadoop and how to use them with Impala
• Comprehend how third party applications can connect with Impala to provide data visualization and various other enhancements

Approach

This book is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorial where each chapter takes your knowledge to the next level. The book covers practical knowledge with tips to implement this knowledge in real-world scenarios. A chapter with a real-life example is included to help you understand the concepts in full.

Who this book is written for

Using Cloudera Impala is for those who really want to take advantage of their Hadoop cluster by processing extremely large amounts of raw data in Hadoop at real-time speed. Prior knowledge of Hadoop and some exposure to HIVE and MapReduce is expected.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Impala
Chapter 2: The Impala Shell Commands and Interface
Chapter 3: The Impala Query Language and Built-in Functions
Chapter 4: Impala Walkthrough with an Example
Chapter 5: Impala Administration and Performance Improvements
Chapter 6: Troubleshooting Impala
Chapter 7: Advanced Impala Concepts
Appendix: Technology Behind Impala and Integration with Third-party Applications