Overview of HttpFS (HDFS over HTTP)
masterHttpFS is a REST HTTP gateway for HDFS that provides full filesystem read and write capabilities. It is designed to facilitate several specific use cases:
- Cross-version Data Transfer: Enables transferring data between Hadoop clusters running different versions (e.g., using Hadoop DistCP) by overcoming RPC versioning issues.
- Firewall Traversal: Acts as a gateway to access HDFS data in clusters located behind a firewall; the HttpFS server is the only component permitted to cross the firewall into the cluster.
- Non-Java Client Access: Allows accessing HDFS data using standard HTTP utilities like
curlandwget, or via HTTP libraries in languages other than Java (e.g., Perl).