Mapping to HBase Table Namespaces

This section describes mapping table namespaces between Apache HBase tables and MapR Database binary tables.

The MapR implementations of the HBase Java API and libhbase differentiate between Apache HBase tables and MapR Database tables according to table names. In certain cases, such as migrating code from Apache HBase tables to MapR Database tables, users need to force the API they are using to access a MapR Database table, even though the table name could map to an Apache HBase table. The hbase.table.namespace.mappings property allows you to map Apache HBase table names to MapR Database tables. This property is typically set in the configuration file /opt/mapr/hadoop/hadoop-<version>/etc/hadoop/core-site.xml.

In general, if a table name includes a slash (/), the name is assumed to be a path to a MapR Database table, because slash is not a valid character for Apache HBase table names. In the case of "flat" table names without a slash, namespace conflict is possible, and you might need to use table mappings.

Table Mapping Naming Conventions

A table mapping takes the form name:map, where name is the table name to redirect and map is the modification made to the name. The value in name can be a literal string or contain the * wildcard. When mapping a name with a wild card, the mapping is treated as a directory. Requests to tables with names that match the wild card are sent to the directory in the mapping.

When mapping a name that is a literal string, you can choose from two different behaviors:

End the mapping with a slash to indicate that this mapping is to a directory. For example, the mapping mytable1:/user/aaa/ sends requests for table mytable1 to the full path /user/aaa/mytable1.
End the mapping without a slash, which creates an alias and treats the mapping as a full path. For example, the mapping mytable1:/user/aaa sends requests for table mytable1 to the full path /user/aaa.

Mappings and Table Listing Behaviors

When you use the list command without specifying a directory, the command's behavior depends on two factors:

Whether a table mapping exists
Whether Apache HBase is installed and running

Here are three different scenarios and the resulting list command behavior for each.

There is a table mapping for *, as in *:/tables. In this case, the list command lists the tables in the mapped directory.
There is no mapping for *, and Apache HBase is installed and running. In this case, the list command lists the HBase tables.
There is no mapping for *, and Apache HBase is not installed or is not running.
- For HBase 0.98.12, the shell will try to connect to an HBase cluster but it will return an error instead.
- For HBase 1.1 or above, if the mapr.hbase.default.db property in the hbase-site.xml is set to hbase, the list command will return an error stating that HBase is not available. If the mapr.hbase.default.db property is set to maprdb, list command will list the MapR Database tables under the user's home directory.

Example 1: Map all HBase tables to MapR Database tables in a directory

In this example, any flat table name foo is treated as a MapR Database table in the directory /tables_dir/foo.

<property>
        <name>hbase.table.namespace.mappings</name>
        <value>*:/tables_dir</value>
        </property>

Example 2: Map specific Apache HBase tables to specific MapR Database tables

In this example, the Apache HBase table name mytable1 is treated as a MapR Database table at /user/aaa/mytable1. The Apache Hbase table name mytable2 is treated as a MapR Database table at /user/bbb/mytable2. All other Apache HBase table names are treated as stock Apache HBase tables.

<property>
        <name>hbase.table.namespace.mappings</name>
        <value>mytable1:/user/aaa/,mytable2:/user/bbb/</value>
        </property>

Example 3: Combination of specific table names and wildcards

Mappings are evaluated in order. In this example, the flat table name mytable1 is treated as a MapR Database table at /user/aaa/mytable1. The flat table name mytable2 is treated as a MapR Database table at /user/bbb/mytable2. Any other flat table name foo is treated as a MapR Database table at /tables_dir/foo.

<property>
        <name>hbase.table.namespace.mappings</name>
        <value>mytable1:/user/aaa/,mytable2:/user/bbb/,*:/tables_dir</value>
        </property>