In the standalone mode, HBase uses the local file system as its storage. In pseudo-distributed and fully-distributed modes, HBase uses HDFS as the storage. See http://hbase.apache.org/notsoquick.html for more details on the different modes.
For details on storage, see http://www.larsgeorge.com/2009/10/hbase-architecture-101-storage.html --Suraj On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 9:42 PM, edward choi <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry for this totally newbie question. > > I'm just wondering if HBase uses HDFS space. > > I read it in the reference book that HBase table size increases > automatically as the table entry increases. > So I am guessing that HBase manages a separate storage other than HDFS. > (But > then why does HBase operate on top of HDFS? Truly confusing...) > > If HBase doesn't use HDFS space, I can designate only a single machine to > be > a HDFS slave, and assign bunch of other machines to be HBase slaves. > But if HBase does use HDFS space, I'd have balance the ratio of HDFS and > HBase within my machines. > > Could anyone give me a clear heads up? > > Ed >
