---
description: 'This engine provides integration with the Apache Hadoop ecosystem by
  allowing to manage data on HDFS via ClickHouse. This engine is similar to the File
  and URL engines, but provides Hadoop-specific features.'
sidebar_label: 'HDFS'
sidebar_position: 80
slug: /engines/table-engines/integrations/hdfs
title: 'HDFS'
---

import CloudNotSupportedBadge from '@theme/badges/CloudNotSupportedBadge';

# HDFS

<CloudNotSupportedBadge/>

This engine provides integration with the [Apache Hadoop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Hadoop) ecosystem by allowing to manage data on [HDFS](https://hadoop.apache.org/docs/current/hadoop-project-dist/hadoop-hdfs/HdfsDesign.html) via ClickHouse. This engine is similar to the [File](/engines/table-engines/special/file) and [URL](/engines/table-engines/special/url) engines, but provides Hadoop-specific features.

This feature is not supported by ClickHouse engineers, and it is known to have a sketchy quality. In case of any problems, fix them yourself and submit a pull request.

## Usage {#usage}

```sql
ENGINE = HDFS(URI, format)
```

**Engine Parameters**

- `URI` - whole file URI in HDFS. The path part of `URI` may contain globs. In this case the table would be readonly.
- `format` - specifies one of the available file formats. To perform
`SELECT` queries, the format must be supported for input, and to perform
`INSERT` queries – for output. The available formats are listed in the
[Formats](/sql-reference/formats#formats-overview) section.
- [PARTITION BY expr]

### PARTITION BY {#partition-by}

`PARTITION BY` — Optional. In most cases you don't need a partition key, and if it is needed you generally don't need a partition key more granular than by month. Partitioning does not speed up queries (in contrast to the ORDER BY expression). You should never use too granular partitioning. Don't partition your data by client identifiers or names (instead, make client identifier or name the first column in the ORDER BY expression).

For partitioning by month, use the `toYYYYMM(date_column)` expression, where `date_column` is a column with a date of the type [Date](/sql-reference/data-types/date.md). The partition names here have the `"YYYYMM"` format.

**Example:**

**1.** Set up the `hdfs_engine_table` table:

```sql
CREATE TABLE hdfs_engine_table (name String, value UInt32) ENGINE=HDFS('hdfs://hdfs1:9000/other_storage', 'TSV')
```

**2.** Fill file:

```sql
INSERT INTO hdfs_engine_table VALUES ('one', 1), ('two', 2), ('three', 3)
```

**3.** Query the data:

```sql
SELECT * FROM hdfs_engine_table LIMIT 2
```

```text
┌─name─┬─value─┐
│ one  │     1 │
│ two  │     2 │
└──────┴───────┘
```

## Implementation details {#implementation-details}

- Reads and writes can be parallel.
- Not supported:
  - `ALTER` and `SELECT...SAMPLE` operations.
  - Indexes.
  - [Zero-copy](../../../operations/storing-data.md#zero-copy) replication is possible, but not recommended.

  :::note Zero-copy replication is not ready for production
  Zero-copy replication is disabled by default in ClickHouse version 22.8 and higher.  This feature is not recommended for production use.
  :::

**Globs in path**

Multiple path components can have globs. For being processed file should exists and matches to the whole path pattern. Listing of files determines during `SELECT` (not at `CREATE` moment).

- `*` — Substitutes any number of any characters except `/` including empty string.
- `?` — Substitutes any single character.
- `{some_string,another_string,yet_another_one}` — Substitutes any of strings `'some_string', 'another_string', 'yet_another_one'`.
- `{N..M}` — Substitutes any number in range from N to M including both borders.

Constructions with `{}` are similar to the [remote](../../../sql-reference/table-functions/remote.md) table function.

**Example**

1.  Suppose we have several files in TSV format with the following URIs on HDFS:

    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/some_dir/some_file_1'
    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/some_dir/some_file_2'
    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/some_dir/some_file_3'
    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/another_dir/some_file_1'
    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/another_dir/some_file_2'
    - 'hdfs://hdfs1:9000/another_dir/some_file_3'

1.  There are several ways to make a table consisting of all six files:

<!-- -->

```sql
CREATE TABLE table_with_range (name String, value UInt32) ENGINE = HDFS('hdfs://hdfs1:9000/{some,another}_dir/some_file_{1..3}', 'TSV')
```

Another way:

```sql
CREATE TABLE table_with_question_mark (name String, value UInt32) ENGINE = HDFS('hdfs://hdfs1:9000/{some,another}_dir/some_file_?', 'TSV')
```

Table consists of all the files in both directories (all files should satisfy format and schema described in query):

```sql
CREATE TABLE table_with_asterisk (name String, value UInt32) ENGINE = HDFS('hdfs://hdfs1:9000/{some,another}_dir/*', 'TSV')
```

:::note
If the listing of files contains number ranges with leading zeros, use the construction with braces for each digit separately or use `?`.
:::

**Example**

Create table with files named `file000`, `file001`, ... , `file999`:

```sql
CREATE TABLE big_table (name String, value UInt32) ENGINE = HDFS('hdfs://hdfs1:9000/big_dir/file{0..9}{0..9}{0..9}', 'CSV')
```
## Configuration {#configuration}

Similar to GraphiteMergeTree, the HDFS engine supports extended configuration using the ClickHouse config file. There are two configuration keys that you can use: global (`hdfs`) and user-level (`hdfs_*`). The global configuration is applied first, and then the user-level configuration is applied (if it exists).

```xml
<!-- Global configuration options for HDFS engine type -->
<hdfs>
  <hadoop_kerberos_keytab>/tmp/keytab/clickhouse.keytab</hadoop_kerberos_keytab>
  <hadoop_kerberos_principal>clickuser@TEST.CLICKHOUSE.TECH</hadoop_kerberos_principal>
  <hadoop_security_authentication>kerberos</hadoop_security_authentication>
</hdfs>

<!-- Configuration specific for user "root" -->
<hdfs_root>
  <hadoop_kerberos_principal>root@TEST.CLICKHOUSE.TECH</hadoop_kerberos_principal>
</hdfs_root>
```

### Configuration options {#configuration-options}

#### Supported by libhdfs3 {#supported-by-libhdfs3}

| **parameter**                                         | **default value**       |
| -                                                  | -                    |
| rpc\_client\_connect\_tcpnodelay                      | true                    |
| dfs\_client\_read\_shortcircuit                       | true                    |
| output\_replace-datanode-on-failure                   | true                    |
| input\_notretry-another-node                          | false                   |
| input\_localread\_mappedfile                          | true                    |
| dfs\_client\_use\_legacy\_blockreader\_local          | false                   |
| rpc\_client\_ping\_interval                           | 10  * 1000              |
| rpc\_client\_connect\_timeout                         | 600 * 1000              |
| rpc\_client\_read\_timeout                            | 3600 * 1000             |
| rpc\_client\_write\_timeout                           | 3600 * 1000             |
| rpc\_client\_socket\_linger\_timeout                  | -1                      |
| rpc\_client\_connect\_retry                           | 10                      |
| rpc\_client\_timeout                                  | 3600 * 1000             |
| dfs\_default\_replica                                 | 3                       |
| input\_connect\_timeout                               | 600 * 1000              |
| input\_read\_timeout                                  | 3600 * 1000             |
| input\_write\_timeout                                 | 3600 * 1000             |
| input\_localread\_default\_buffersize                 | 1 * 1024 * 1024         |
| dfs\_prefetchsize                                     | 10                      |
| input\_read\_getblockinfo\_retry                      | 3                       |
| input\_localread\_blockinfo\_cachesize                | 1000                    |
| input\_read\_max\_retry                               | 60                      |
| output\_default\_chunksize                            | 512                     |
| output\_default\_packetsize                           | 64 * 1024               |
| output\_default\_write\_retry                         | 10                      |
| output\_connect\_timeout                              | 600 * 1000              |
| output\_read\_timeout                                 | 3600 * 1000             |
| output\_write\_timeout                                | 3600 * 1000             |
| output\_close\_timeout                                | 3600 * 1000             |
| output\_packetpool\_size                              | 1024                    |
| output\_heartbeat\_interval                          | 10 * 1000               |
| dfs\_client\_failover\_max\_attempts                  | 15                      |
| dfs\_client\_read\_shortcircuit\_streams\_cache\_size | 256                     |
| dfs\_client\_socketcache\_expiryMsec                  | 3000                    |
| dfs\_client\_socketcache\_capacity                    | 16                      |
| dfs\_default\_blocksize                               | 64 * 1024 * 1024        |
| dfs\_default\_uri                                     | "hdfs://localhost:9000" |
| hadoop\_security\_authentication                      | "simple"                |
| hadoop\_security\_kerberos\_ticket\_cache\_path       | ""                      |
| dfs\_client\_log\_severity                            | "INFO"                  |
| dfs\_domain\_socket\_path                             | ""                      |

[HDFS Configuration Reference](https://hawq.apache.org/docs/userguide/2.3.0.0-incubating/reference/HDFSConfigurationParameterReference.html) might explain some parameters.

#### ClickHouse extras {#clickhouse-extras}

| **parameter**                                         | **default value**       |
| -                                                  | -                    |
|hadoop\_kerberos\_keytab                               | ""                      |
|hadoop\_kerberos\_principal                            | ""                      |
|libhdfs3\_conf                                         | ""                      |

### Limitations {#limitations}
* `hadoop_security_kerberos_ticket_cache_path` and `libhdfs3_conf` can be global only, not user specific

## Kerberos support {#kerberos-support}

If the `hadoop_security_authentication` parameter has the value `kerberos`, ClickHouse authenticates via Kerberos.
Parameters are [here](#clickhouse-extras) and `hadoop_security_kerberos_ticket_cache_path` may be of help.
Note that due to libhdfs3 limitations only old-fashioned approach is supported,
datanode communications are not secured by SASL (`HADOOP_SECURE_DN_USER` is a reliable indicator of such
security approach). Use `tests/integration/test_storage_kerberized_hdfs/hdfs_configs/bootstrap.sh` for reference.

If `hadoop_kerberos_keytab`, `hadoop_kerberos_principal` or `hadoop_security_kerberos_ticket_cache_path` are specified, Kerberos authentication will be used. `hadoop_kerberos_keytab` and `hadoop_kerberos_principal` are mandatory in this case.
## HDFS Namenode HA support {#namenode-ha}

libhdfs3 support HDFS namenode HA.

- Copy `hdfs-site.xml` from an HDFS node to `/etc/clickhouse-server/`.
- Add following piece to ClickHouse config file:

```xml
  <hdfs>
    <libhdfs3_conf>/etc/clickhouse-server/hdfs-site.xml</libhdfs3_conf>
  </hdfs>
```

- Then use `dfs.nameservices` tag value of `hdfs-site.xml` as the namenode address in the HDFS URI. For example, replace `hdfs://appadmin@192.168.101.11:8020/abc/` with `hdfs://appadmin@my_nameservice/abc/`.

## Virtual columns {#virtual-columns}

- `_path` — Path to the file. Type: `LowCardinality(String)`.
- `_file` — Name of the file. Type: `LowCardinality(String)`.
- `_size` — Size of the file in bytes. Type: `Nullable(UInt64)`. If the size is unknown, the value is `NULL`.
- `_time` — Last modified time of the file. Type: `Nullable(DateTime)`. If the time is unknown, the value is `NULL`.

## Storage settings {#storage-settings}

- [hdfs_truncate_on_insert](/operations/settings/settings.md#hdfs_truncate_on_insert) - allows to truncate file before insert into it. Disabled by default.
- [hdfs_create_new_file_on_insert](/operations/settings/settings.md#hdfs_create_new_file_on_insert) - allows to create a new file on each insert if format has suffix. Disabled by default.
- [hdfs_skip_empty_files](/operations/settings/settings.md#hdfs_skip_empty_files) - allows to skip empty files while reading. Disabled by default.

**See Also**

- [Virtual columns](../../../engines/table-engines/index.md#table_engines-virtual_columns)
