Getting Started with Hadoop Core

Abstract

Applications frequently require more resources than are available on an inexpensive machine. Many organizations find themselves with business processes that no longer fit on a single cost-effective computer. A simple but expensive solution has been to buy specialty machines that have a lot of memory and many CPUs. This solution scales as far as what is supported by the fastest machines available, and usually the only limiting factor is your budget. An alternative solution is to build a high-availability cluster. Such a cluster typically attempts to look like a single machine, and typically requires very specialized installation and administration services. Many high-availability clusters are proprietary and expensive.