In this book, we used as the most common platform the Cloudera Hadoop Distribution (CDH) with its convenient QuickStart virtual machine and the powerful Cloudera Manager application. With a Cloudera-based cluster, Cloudera Manager will become (at least initially) your primary interface into the system to manage and monitor the cluster, so let's explore it a little.

Note that Cloudera Manager has extensive and high-quality online documentation. We won't duplicate this documentation here; instead we'll attempt to highlight where Cloudera Manager fits into your development and operational workflows and how it might or might not be something you want to embrace. Documentation for the latest and previous versions of Cloudera Manager can be accessed via the main Cloudera documentation page at http://www.cloudera.com/content/support/en/documentation.html.