The reason you are getting multiple prompts is that you have multiple dir's defined in the dfs.name.dir.
A simple expect script would take care of this. #!/usr/bin/expect -f spawn /bin/hadoop namenode -format expect "Re-format filesystem in" send Y\n expect "Re-format filesystem in" send Y\n interact You might have to put the above in a loop based on how many dirs are defined in the dfs.name.dir -- Arpit [email protected] On Sep 22, 2011, at 2:59 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Raj and Arpit, > > I think the fact that there are 2 confirmations is causing it not to work: > > echo "Y" | hadoop namenode -format > 11/09/22 14:57:10 INFO namenode.NameNode: STARTUP_MSG: > /************************************************************ > STARTUP_MSG: Starting NameNode > STARTUP_MSG: host = hdm1/172.28.9.250 > STARTUP_MSG: args = [-format] > STARTUP_MSG: version = 0.20.204.0 > STARTUP_MSG: build = git://hrt8n35.cc1.ygridcore.net/ on branch > branch-0.20-security-204 -r 65e258bf0813ac2b15bb4c954660eaf9e8fba141; > compiled by 'hortonow' on Thu Aug 25 23:25:52 UTC 2011 > ************************************************************/ > Re-format filesystem in /data/local/hdfs/name ? (Y or N) Re-format > filesystem in /data/remote/hdfs/name ? (Y or N) Format aborted in > /data/remote/hdfs/name > 11/09/22 14:57:10 INFO namenode.NameNode: SHUTDOWN_MSG: > /************************************************************ > SHUTDOWN_MSG: Shutting down NameNode at hdm1/172.28.9.250 > ************************************************************/ > Heap > par new generation total 2831168K, used 150996K [0x00002aaaae210000, > 0x00002aab6e210000, 0x00002aab6e210000) > eden space 2516608K, 6% used [0x00002aaaae210000, 0x00002aaab75852d0, > 0x00002aab47bb0000) > from space 314560K, 0% used [0x00002aab47bb0000, 0x00002aab47bb0000, > 0x00002aab5aee0000) > to space 314560K, 0% used [0x00002aab5aee0000, 0x00002aab5aee0000, > 0x00002aab6e210000) > concurrent mark-sweep generation total 30408704K, used 0K > [0x00002aab6e210000, 0x00002ab2ae210000, 0x00002ab2ae210000) > concurrent-mark-sweep perm gen total 21248K, used 7333K > [0x00002ab2ae210000, 0x00002ab2af6d0000, 0x00002ab2b3610000) > > > Cheers, > Ivan > > On 9/22/11 2:52 PM, "Raj V" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Ian >> "echo 'Y' | hadoop namenode -format" >> >> should work., >> >> Raj >> >> >>> ________________________________ >>> From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:43 PM >>> Subject: formatting hdfs without user interaction >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> I am trying to automate formatting an HDFS volume. Is there any way to >>> do this without the interaction (and using expect)? >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Ivan >>> >>> >
