Cloudera Navigator Frequently Asked Questions

Cloudera Navigator offers components for security, data management, and data optimization, as follows:

Cloudera Navigator Data Encryption is a data-at-rest encryption and key management suite that includes Cloudera Navigator Encrypt, Cloudera Navigator Key Trustee Server, among other components.
Cloudera Navigator Data Management is a comprehensive auditing, data governance, compliance, data stewardship, and data lineage discovery component that is fully integrated with Hadoop.

This Navigator YouTube video gives a light-hearted look at the Cloudera Navigator brand and helps identify the value of each of the Navigator components:

How Cloudera Navigator Fits into Cloudera Enterprise

The FAQs below discuss the Cloudera Navigator Data Management component only.

For further information on using and administering Cloudera Navigator Data Management see the Navigator product guide.

Is Cloudera Navigator a module of Cloudera Manager?

Not exactly. Cloudera Navigator is installed separately, after Cloudera Manager is installed, and it interacts behind the scenes with Cloudera Manager to deliver some of its core functionality. Cloudera Manager is used by cluster administrators to manage the cluster and all its services. Cloudera Navigator is used by administrators but also by security and governance teams, data stewards, and others to audit, trace data lineage from source raw data through final form, and perform other comprehensive data governance and stewardship tasks.

Does Cloudera Navigator have a user interface?

Yes. The Cloudera Navigator console is a browser-based user interface hosted on the node running an instance of the Navigator Metadata Server role. It provides a unified view of clusters associated with a given Cloudera Manager instance and lets you customize metadata, trace lineage, view audit events, and so on.

For example, the screenshot below shows a Data Explorer view of databases and tables created, tables populated, and SQL queries started within the specified timeframe (May 9, 2017 to June 6, 2017), with a trendline (the dashed line) displayed in the context of the results:

Clicking anywhere within the chart lets you drill down into the entities and begin identifying sources of spikes and trends and open lineage diagrams.

See the Cloudera Navigator Data Management Oveview to learn more about the types of questions that Cloudera Navigator is designed to answer.
See Getting Started with Cloudera Navigator for an overview of the Cloudera Manager console.

How can I access the Cloudera Navigator console?

The Cloudera Navigator console can be accessed from the Cloudera Manager Admin Console or directly on the Navigator Metadata Server instance. Using the Cloudera Manager Admin Console as a starting point requires the Cloudera Manager roles of either Navigator Administrator or Full Administrator.

From the Cloudera Manager Admin Console:

Select Clusters > Cluster-n.
Select Cloudera Navigator from the menu.

To access the Cloudera Navigator console directly:

Open the browser to the host name of the node in the cluster that runs the Cloudera Navigator Metadata Server. For example, if node 2 in the cluster is running the Navigator Metadata Server role, the URL to the Cloudera Navigator console (assuming the default port of 7187) might look as follows:
```
http://fqdn-2.example.com:7187/login.html
```
Log in to the Cloudera Navigator console using the credentials assigned by your administrator.

What are the requirements for Cloudera Navigator?

Cloudera Navigator data management is a standard component of the Cloudera Enterprise edition. It is not included with Cloudera Express and requires an enterprise license. The Cloudera Enterprise license is an annual subscription that provides a complete portfolio of support and services. See Cloudera Enterprise Data Sheet for details.

Can Cloudera Navigator be purchased separately?

No. Cloudera Navigator auditing and metadata subsystems interact with various subsystems of Cloudera Manager. For companies without Kerberos or other external means of authentication, Cloudera Navigator uses Cloudera Manager for user authentication. In short, Cloudera Manager is a pre-requisite for Cloudera Navigator, and must be installed before you can install Cloudera Navigator.

What versions of Cloudera Manager, CDH, and Impala does Cloudera Navigator support?

See Product Compatibility Matrix for Cloudera Navigator.

Is Cloudera Navigator an open source project?

No. Cloudera Navigator is closed source software that is fully integrated with the Hadoop platform. Cloudera Navigator complements Cloudera Manager and part of the Cloudera suite of management capabilities for Hadoop clusters.

Do Cloudera Navigator logs differ from Cloudera Manager logs?

Yes. For example, Cloudera Navigator tracks and aggregates accesses to the data stored in CDH services and is used for audit reports and analysis. Cloudera Manager monitors and logs all the activity performed by CDH services that helps administrators maintain the health of the cluster. Together these logs provide better visibility into both data access and system activity for an enterprise cluster.

How can I learn more about Cloudera Navigator?

See Cloudera Navigator Data Management Overview for a more detailed introduction to Cloudera Navigator. Other Cloudera Navigator information resources are listed in the table. Installation, upgrade, administration, and security guides are all aimed at administrators.

User Guide	Cloudera Navigator Data Management guide shows data stewards, compliance officers, and business users how to use Cloudera Navigator for data governance, compliance, data stewardship, and other tasks. Topics include Auditing, Metadata, Lineage Diagrams, Cloudera Navigator and the Cloud, Services and Security Management, and more.
Installation	Installing the Cloudera Navigator Data Management Component
Upgrade	Upgrading the Cloudera Navigator Data Management Component
Security	Configuring Authentication for Cloudera Navigator
	Configuring TLS/SSL for Navigator Audit Server
	Configuring TLS/SSL for Navigator Metadata Server

Categories: FAQs | Getting Started | Navigator | Planning | All Categories

Getting Started with Cloudera Navigator

Cloudera Navigator Data Encryption