Certification Study Guide

MapR Certified Cluster Administrator 5.1

Study Guide
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CONTENTS
About MapR Study Guides .................................................................................................................. 3

MapR Certified Cluster Administrator 5.1 (MCCA) ............................................................................ 3

SECTION 1 WHATS ON THE EXAM? ...................................................................... 5

Exam Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 5

Sample Questions ............................................................................................................................... 7

SECTION 2- PREPARING FOR THE CERTIFICATION ............................................. 14

Instructor and Virtual Instructor-led Training ................................................................................. 14

On-Demand Training ........................................................................................................................ 16

Videos & Webinars ............................................................................................................................ 19

Tutorials, blogs, and other resources .............................................................................................. 20

Datasets ............................................................................................................................................ 20

SECTION 3 - TAKING THE EXAM .....................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

Register for the Exam ........................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Reserve a Test Session ......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Cancellation & Rescheduling ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Test System Compatibility .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Day of the Exam .................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

After the Exam - Sharing Your Results ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Exam Retakes ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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About MapR Study Guides

MapR certification study guides are intended to help you prepare for certification by
providing additional study resources, sample questions, and details about how to take
the exam. The study guide by itself is not enough to prepare you for the exam. Youll
need training, practice, and experience. The study guide will point you in the right
direction and help you get ready.

If you use all the resources in this guide, and spend 6-12 months on your own using the
software, experimenting with the tools, and practicing the role you are certifying for, you
should be well prepared to attempt the exams.

MapR Certified Cluster Administrator 5.1 (MCCA)

The MapR Certified Cluster Administrator 5.1 credential is designed for Engineers and
Administrators who set up and manage clusters using MapR. The certification tests
ones ability to use MapR tools and basic Linux commands to design, manage, and
troubleshoot clusters.

Exam Cost: $250

Duration: 2 Hours

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Whats on the
Exam?

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Section 1 Whats on the Exam?
The MapR Certified Cluster Administrator 5.1 exam is comprised of 6 exam topic sections
and 15 objectives. There are 60-80 questions on the exam. MapR exams are frequently
updated and therefore the number of exam questions can change.

MapR tests new questions on the exam in an unscored manner. This means that you may
see test questions on the exam that are not used for scoring your exam. You will not know
which items are scored and which are unscored. Unscored items are being tested for
inclusion in future versions of the exam. Unscored items have no influence on your results.

MapR exams are Pass or Fail based on cut score. Your exam results will be displayed at the
end of your exam and they will be included in your end of exam results email.

Exam Objectives

1. Installation 15%

1.1 Install the MapR Platform

1.2 Install and configure resources

2. Configure Cluster Resources 15%

2.1 Configure permissions for users and groups

2.2 Configure Logging options including default/local, centralized & YARN log aggregation

2.3 Locate and review log files and describe the behavior of the fair scheduler

2.4 Given a typical use case, set-up a node using an appropriate node topology

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 3. Volumes, Snapshots, and Mirrors 20%

3.1 Create MapR volumes through the MCS and CLI

3.2 Demonstrate how to use the configurable properties of MapR volumes

3.3 Demonstrate how to create and schedule snapshots from MCS and CLI, restore
from a snapshot, and describe how snapshots are expired

4. Data Access 15%

4.1 Demonstrate how to get files into and out of the cluster using a variety of commands
like Copy Table and importtsv

4.2 Configure client access using Direct Access NFS, MapR Client, and MapR POSIX Client

5. Disk and Node Maintenance 20%

5.1 Demonstrate how to diagnose disk failures, add disks, and replace a failed disks

5.2 Demonstrate add nodes, replaced failed nodes, and use maintenance windows to
maintain nodes

6. Monitoring, Managing, and Troubleshooting the Cluster 15%

6.1 Demonstrate how to use common Linux commands to manage Cluster services

6.2 Demonstrate how to diagnose common cluster problems and troubleshooting steps to
correct the problem

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Sample Questions
The following questions represent the kinds of questions you will see on the exam.
The answers to these sample questions can be found in the answer key following the
sample questions.

Q1. What is the default replication factor for a name container?

A. one
B. two
C. three
D. four

Q2. You create a new volume, with a replication factor of 3. You write 100 GB of data
to the volume. You take a snapshot of the volume, then you delete a 20 GB file from
your volume and take another snapshot. How much space are your snapshots
counting against your quota?

A. 0 GB
B. 20 GB
C. 80 GB
D. 100 GB
E. 120 GB

Q3. Which task is NOT performed by the Warden?

A. Starting appropriate services

B. Allocating memory for services when they start up
C. Starting ZooKeeper
D. Restarting failed services

Q4. What two (2) things does the POSIX client enable you to do that you wouldnt be
able to do if you hadnt installed it?

A. Use Linux commands to access the cluster

B. Use hadoop commands to access the cluster
C. Use maprcli commands to query the cluster
D. Use native applications on the client to access cluster data

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Q5. You have a volume configured with the default replication factors. If the number
of replicas of that volume's data falls to 2 because a disk failed, when will the data
begin to re-replicate?

A. Almost immediately
B. After 30 minutes
C. After 1 hour
D. After 4 hours

Q6. All of your volumes are in the /data topology. Which topology could NOT be used
to safely decommission a node?

A. /decommissioned
B. /data/decommissioned
C. /decommissioned/data
D. /data-decommissioned

Q7. A cluster has the node topology illustrated here. You create a volume and assign
a volume topology of /data/rack3. To which of the nodes could that volume's data be
written?

A. Nodes 1 through 24
B. Nodes 17 through 24
C. Nodes 17 through 19
D. Any of them

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Q8. With a Converged Community Edition Cluster, which three (3) of the following
services can be configured on multiple nodes?

A. ZooKeeper
B. JobHistoryServer
C. NodeManager
D. WebServer
E. NFS
F. CLDB

Q10. Eddie cannot connect to his MCS. Which Linux command can he use to verify
the port is open and listening?

A. ifconfig
B. route
C. netstat
D. iptables

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Sample Question Answer Key

Q1. What is the default replication factor for a name container?

A. one
B. two
C. *three
D. four

Q2. You create a new volume, with a replication factor of 3. You write 100 GB of data
to the volume. You take a snapshot of the volume then you delete a 20 GB file from
your volume and take another snapshot. How much space are your snapshots
counting against your quota?

A. *0 GB
B. 20 GB
C. 80 GB
D. 100 GB
E. 120 GB

Q3. Which task is NOT performed by the Warden?

A. Starting appropriate services

B. Allocating memory for services when they start up
C. * Starting ZooKeeper
D. Restarting failed services

Q4. What two (2) things does the POSIX client enable you to do that you wouldnt be
able to do if you hadnt installed it?

A. Use Linux commands to access the cluster

B. * Use hadoop commands to access the cluster
C. * Use maprcli commands to query the cluster
D. Use native applications on the client to access cluster data

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Q5. You have a volume configured with the default replication factors. If the number
of replicas of that volume's data falls to 2 because a disk failed, when will the data
begin to re-replicate?

A. *Almost immediately
B. After 30 minutes
C. After 1 hour
D. After 4 hours

Q6. All of your volumes are in the /data topology. Which topology could NOT be used
to safely decommission a node?

A. /decommissioned
B. */data/decommissioned
C. /decommissioned/data
D. /data-decommissioned

Q7. A cluster has the node topology illustrated here. You create a volume and assign
a volume topology of /data/rack3. To which of the nodes could that volume's data be
written?

A. Nodes 1 through 24
B. *Nodes 17 through 24
C. Nodes 17 through 19
D. Any of them
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Q8. With a Converged Community Edition Cluster, which three (3) of the following
services can be configured on multiple nodes?

A. * ZooKeeper
B. JobHistoryServer
C. * NodeManager
D. * WebServer
E. NFS
F. CLDB

Q9. You are creating a new cluster, and will load 200 TB of non-compressible data
into the cluster. 20 TB of the data is considered critical, and will have a replication
factor of 5. The rest of the data will use the default replication factor. About how
much total cluster storage space should you start with?

A. 640 TB
B. *800 TB
C. 900 TB
D. 1280 TB

Q10. Eddie cannot connect to his MCS. Which Linux command can he use to verify
the port is open and listening?

A. ifconfig
B. route
C. *netstat
D. iptables

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 2
Preparing for
the Certification

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Section 2- Preparing for the Certification
MapR provides several ways to prepare for the certification
including classroom training, self-paced online training, videos,
webinars, blogs, and ebooks.

MapR offers a number of training courses that will help you

prepare. We recommend taking the classroom training first,
followed by self-paced online training, and then several months
of experimentation on your own learning the tools in a real-world
environment.

We also provide additional resources in this guide to support

your learning. The blogs, whiteboard walkthroughs, and ebooks
are excellent supporting material in your efforts to become a
Cluster Administrator.

Instructor and Virtual Instructor-led Training

All courses include:
Certified MapR Instructor who is an SME in the topic,
and is expert in classroom facilitation and course
delivery techniques

Collaboration and assistance for all students on

completion of exercises

Lab exercises, a lab guide, slide guide, job aids as

appropriate

Course Cluster for completing labs provided

Certification exam fee included one exam try only,

done on the students own time (not in class)

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ADM 2000 Cluster Administration
Duration: 3 days
Cost: $2400

Course Description:
This instructor-led course teaches you real-world cluster administrator concepts and
practices, including planning, installation and configuration, load balancing and tuning
diagnosing deployment issues, performance, setting up a Hadoop cluster with direct
access NFS, snapshots, monitoring cluster health, resolving hardware issues and
troubleshooting job errors.

Syllabus
Day 1
Get Started
Lesson 1: Prepare for Installation
Lesson 2: Install a MapR Cluster

Day 2
Lesson 3: Verify and Test the Cluster
Lesson 4: Users, Groups and System Settings
Lesson 5: Configure Topology
Lesson 6: Configure Volumes
Lesson 7: Job Logs and Scheduling

Day 3
Lesson 8: Access Cluster Data
Lesson 9: Snapshots
Lesson 10: Mirrors
Lesson 11: Monitor and Manage the Cluster
Lesson 12: Disk and Node Maintenance
Lesson 13: Troubleshooting

Prerequisites for Success in this Course

Completion if HDE 100 - Hadoop Essentials
A Background in Linux system administration (able to navigate the Linux file
system, use an editor at the command-line interface, add users/groups, and
execute common commands)
A Linux system, PC or Mac with access to ssh and scp (using PuTTY, Cygwin, or
similar tools)

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On-Demand Training

ESS 200 - Install a MapR Cluster

What's Covered?
Introduction to MapR-FS

Review Key Components of HDFS

Describe Key Components of MapR-FS
Compare and Contrast MapR-FS and HDFS

Where: MapR Academy Essentials

ADM 200 - Install a MapR Cluster

Course Description:
ADM 200 covers pre-installation testing and verification, installing a MapR cluster,
verifying the installation, and performing post-installation benchmarking.

Lesson 1: Prepare for Installation

Lesson 2: Install a MapR Cluster

Lesson 3: Verify and Test the Cluster

Where: MapR Academy Pro

ADM 201 Configure a MapR Cluster

Course Description:
This course covers how to configure cluster users, topology, and volumes once the
cluster has been installed. It also covers the basics of job logs and scheduling jobs.

Lesson 4 - Users, Groups and System Settings

Lesson 5 - Configure Topology

Lesson 6 - Configure Volumes

Lesson 7 - Job Logs and Scheduling

Where: MapR Academy Pro

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ADM 202 - Data Access and Protection
Course Description:
This course covers how cluster data is accessed and protected. It takes an in-depth look
at the power of MapR snapshots and mirror volumes, and using Access Control
Expressions to control access to a volumes data.

Lesson 8 - Access Cluster Data

Lesson 9 - Snapshots

Lesson 10 - Mirrors

Where: MapR Academy Pro

ADM 203 - Cluster Maintenance

Course Description:
This is the fourth and final course in the Cluster Administration curriculum. This course
teaches you how to configure cluster settings, monitor the cluster, resolve issues, and
optimize cluster performance.

Lesson 11 - Monitor and Mange the Cluster

Lesson 12 - Disk and Node Maintenance

Lesson 13 - Troubleshoot Cluster Problems

Where: MapR Academy Pro

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ADM 210 Upgrade a MapR Cluster
Course Description:
This course takes you through the process of upgrading a MapR cluster, beginning with
what to include in a cluster upgrade plan, how to perform pre-upgrade testing, and then
to upgrading MapR and patching core software, ecosystem components, and MapR
clients.

Lesson 1 Plan the Upgrade

Lesson 2 Upgrade MapR Core

Lesson 3 Upgrade Ecosystem Components and MapR Clients

Where: MapR Academy Pro

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Videos & Webinars
In addition to the classroom and self-paced training courses, we recommend these
videos, webinars, and tutorials

1. How to Configure the Network for MapR Sandbox. WhiteboardWalkthrough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsTmE3JrRk0

2. Container Location Databases (CLDB) vs. NameNode: WhiteboardWalkthrough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiqA9ybgewk

3. High Availability on MapR: PDF

https://www.mapr.com/sites/default/files/highavailabilityonmapr.pdf

4. MapR Snapshots
https://www.mapr.com/resources/mapr-snapshots

5. MapR Control System Part 1: Dashboard and Setting Topology Tutorial

https://www.mapr.com/products/mapr-sandbox-hadoop/tutorials/mapr-control-
system-dashboard-setting-topology

6. MapR Control System Part 2: Setting up Volumes, Snapshots, and Mirrors

https://www.mapr.com/node/7386

7. MapR Control System Part 3: Alarms and Metrics

https://www.mapr.com/node/7391

8. Disaster Recovery
https://www.mapr.com/resources/disaster-recovery

9. Handling Disk Failure in MapR FS

https://www.mapr.com/resources/videos/whiteboard-walkthrough-handling-disk-
failure-mapr-fs

10. Launching a MapR Cluster on Google Compute Engine

https://www.mapr.com/resources/launching-mapr-cluster-google-compute-engine

11. Managing MapR Clusters on Google Compute Engine

https://www.mapr.com/resources/managing-mapr-clusters-google-compute-
engine

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Tutorials, blogs, and other resources
We recommend these resources to help you prepare for the MapR Certified Cluster
Administrator exam.

1. MapR Administrator Guide http://doc.mapr.com/display/MapR/Administrator+Guide

2. Best Practices for ETL/ELT Offload to Hadoop

https://www.mapr.com/resources/webinars/best-practices-etlelt-offload-hadoop

3. Cluster Auditing Demo in MapR 5.0

https://www.mapr.com/resources/videos/cluster-auditing-demo-mapr-50

4. MapR Community Knowledge Articles

https://community.mapr.com/community/answers/pages/knowledge-articles

Datasets
These are some datasets that we recommend for experimenting with.

1. UCI Machine Learning Repository

This site has almost 300 datasets of various types and sizes for tasks including
classification, regression, clustering, and recommender systems.
http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/

2. Amazon AWS public datasets

These datasets include the Human Genome Project, the Common Crawl web corpus,
Wikipedia data, and Google Books Ngrams. Information on these datasets can be
found at http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/

3. Kaggle
This site includes a collection of datasets used in machine learning competitions run
by Kaggle. Areas include classification, regression, ranking, recommender systems,
and image analysis. These datasets can be found under the Competitions section at
http://www.kaggle.com/competitions

4. KDnuggets
This site has a detailed list of public datasets, including some of those mentioned
earlier. The list is available at http://www.kdnuggets.com/datasets/index.html

5. SF Open Data
SF OpenData is the central clearinghouse for data published by the City and County
of San Francisco and is part of the broader open data program.
https://data.sfgov.org/data

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 3
Taking the Exam

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Section 3 - Taking the Exam

MapR Certification exams are delivered online using a service from PSI. A professional
proctor will guide you into the test session. Once you are logged in for your test session,
and your webcam and desktop are shared, your proctor will launch your exam.

This method allows you to take our exams anytime, and anywhere, but you will need a
quiet environment where you will remain uninterrupted for up to two hours. You will also
need a reliable Internet connection for the entire test session.

There are five steps in taking your exam:

1) Register for the exam
2) Reserve a test session
3) Test your system compatibility
4) Take the exam
5) Get your results

Register for the Exam

MapR exams are available for purchase exclusively on the MapR Academy site. You have
six months to complete your certification after you purchase the exam. After six months
have expired, your exam registration will be canceled. There are no refunds for expired
certification purchases.

1) Sign in to your profile at MapR Academy

2) Find the exam in the MapR Academy catalog and click Purchase
3) If you have a voucher code, enter it in the Promotion Code field
4) Use a credit card to pay for the exam
You may use a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover credit card. The
charge will appear as MAPR TECHNOLOGIES on your credit card statement.
5) Look for a confirmation with your Order ID

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Reserve a Test Session
MapR exams are delivered on a platform called PSI. When you are ready to schedule
your exam, go back to your profile in MapR Academy, click on your exam, and click the
Continue to Innovative Exams link to proceed to scheduling. Single Sign-On is used to
log you into the PSI application.

1) Enter your exam title in the Search Here field

2) Choose an exam date and timezone

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3) Choose a time slot at least 24 hours in advance

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4) Once confirmed, your reservation will be in your My Exams tab of Innovative Exams

5) Check your email for a reservation confirmation

Cancellation & Rescheduling

Examinees are permitted to cancel or reschedule their exam registration with 24-hour
notice without a penalty. If you cancel or reschedule less than 24 hours in advance of the
scheduled appointment, you will forfeit the entire cost of the exam and they will need to
pay for it again to reschedule.

To cancel an exam reservation, log in to your MapR Academy Profile, find your exam
registration and click through to log in to the PSI/Innovative exams service. Go to My
Exams, select the exam registration and Cancel. This cancels your exam registration
only. MapR Exams are non-refundable. A cancellation confirmation email will be sent to
the examinee following the cancellation.

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Test System Compatibility
We recommend that you check your system compatibility several days before your exam
to make sure you are ready to go. Go to
https://www.examslocal.com/ScheduleExam/Home/CompatibilityCheck

These are the system requirements:

1) Mac, Windows, Linux, or Chrome OS

2) Google Chrome or Chromium version 32 and above
3) Your browser must accept third party cookies for the duration of the exam ONLY
4) Install Innovative Exams Google Chrome Extension
5) TCP: port 80 and 443
6) 1GB RAM & 2GHz dual core processor
7) Minimum 1280 x 800 resolution
8) Sufficient bandwidth to share your screen via the Internet

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27
Day of the Exam
Make sure your Internet connection is strong and stable
Make sure you are in a quiet, well-lit room without distractions
Clear the room - you must be alone when taking your exam
No breaks are allowed during the exam; use the bathroom before you log in
Clear your desk of any materials, notebooks, and mobile devices
Silence your mobile and remove it from your desk
Configure your computer for a single display; multiple displays are not allowed
Close out of all other applications except for Chrome

Sign in 30 minutes in advance of your testing time so that you can communicate with
your proctor, and get completely set up well in advance of your test time.

You will be required to share your desktop and your webcam prior to the exam start.
YOUR EXAM SESSION WILL BE RECORDED. If the Proctor senses any misconduct, your
exam will be paused and you will be notified by the proctor of your misconduct.
If your misconduct is not corrected, the Proctor will shut down your exam, resulting in a
Fail.

Examples of misconduct and/or misuse of the exam include, but are not limited to, the
following:

Impersonating another person

Accepting assistance or providing assistance to another person
Disclosure of exam content including, but not limited to, web postings, formal or
informal test preparation or discussion groups, or reconstruction through
memorization or any other method
Possession of unauthorized items during the exam. This includes study
materials, notes, computers and mobile devices.
Use of unauthorized materials (including brain-dump material and/or
unauthorized publication of exam questions with or without answers).
Making notes of any kind during the exam
Removing or attempting to remove exam material (in any format)
Modifying and/or altering the results and/or scoring the report or any other exam
record

MapR Certification exam policies can be viewed at: https://www.mapr.com/mapr-

certification-policies

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After the Exam - Sharing Your Results

When you pass a MapR Certification exam, you will receive a confirmation email from
certification@mapr.com with the details of your success. This will include the title of
your certification and details on how you can download your digital certificate, and share
your certification on social media.

Your certification will be updated in your MapR Academy profile. From your profile you
can view your certificate and share it on LinkedIn.

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Your certificate is available as a PDF. You can download and print your certificate from
your profile in learn.mapr.com.

Your credential contains a unique Certificate Number and a URL. You can share your
credential with anyone who needs to verify your certification.

If you happen to fail the exam, you will automatically qualify for a discounted exam
retake. Retakes are $100 USD and can be purchased by following the link in your exam
results email following the exam session.

Exam Retakes

If you fail an exam, you are eligible to purchase immediately and retake the exam in 14
days. Once you have passed the exam, you may not take that version (e.g., v.4.0) of the
exam again, but you may take any newer version of the exam (e.g., v.4.1).

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