Generate a parcel

Article
07/12/2022

Important

This content is being retired and may not be updated in the future. The support for Machine Learning Server will end on July 1, 2022. For more information, see What's happening to Machine Learning Server?

Applies to: R Server 9.1 on the Cloudera distribution of Apache Hadoop (CDH)

When performing a parcel installation in CDH, you use the generate_mrs_parcel.sh instead of install.sh. You will also use support files provided in the R Server 9.1 distribution, followed by Cloudera Manager to complete the deployment. The instructions in this article walk you through steps performed at the console, prior to using Cloudera Manager.

In previous releases, parcel installation required downloading two pre-built parcel files. The 9.1 release improves upon this experience by providing a parcel generator script. The script produces the following output:

a parcel
a checksum
a Custom Service Descriptor (CSD) that integrates Microsoft R Server as a managed service in Cloudera

Before you start, be aware of the following limitations:

MicrosoftML can only be included in the parcel if CDH is running on RHEL 7.x or later.
mrsdeploy features (remote execution, web service deployment), plus web node and compute node configurations, are not supported at all.

A workaround is to install the packages manually. For instructions, see Manual package installation.

Step 1: Download

The first step is to download a gzipped tar file of the R Server 9.1 distribution to the master node from the following download site.

Site	Edition	Details
Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC)	Enterprise	Sign in, search for R Server for Hadoop. A selection for R Server 9.1.0 for Hadoop is provided on this site.

Step 2: Unpack

After downloading the software to a writable directory, such as /tmp, the second step is to unpack the distribution.

On the master node, log in as root or a user with super user privileges (sudo su). In our examples, the master node is a machine named cdh4-mn0.
Switch to the /tmp directory (assuming it's the download location): cd /tmp
Unpack the file: [root@cdh4-mn0 tmp] $ tar zxvf en_microsoft_r_server_910_for_hadoop_x64_10323951.tar.gz

The distribution is unpacked into an MRS91Hadoop folder at the download location. The distribution includes the following files:

File	Description
`install.sh`	Script for installing R Server. Do not use this for a parcel install.
`generate_mrs_parcel.sh`	Script for generating a parcel used for installing R Server on CDH.
`EULA.txt`	End user license agreements for each separately licensed component.
DEB folder	Contains Microsoft R packages for deployment on Ubuntu.
RPM folder	Contains Microsoft R packages for deployment on CentOS/RHEL and SUSE
Parcel folder	Contains files used to generate a parcel for installation on CDH.

Step 3: Dry run

The parcel generator script is now available in the tmp directory. The script includes a -n flag that steps through actions without actually deploying anything. We recommend you start with the -n parameter to review the prompts.

The script downloads Microsoft R Open and builds a parcel by extracting information from RPM packages. You can append flags to run unattended setup or customize feature selections.

Switch to the MRS91Hadoop directory: cd /MRS91Hadoop
Run the script without actually invoking its operations:

[root@cdh4-mn0 MRS91Hadoop] $ bash generate_mrs_parcel.sh -n

You will be prompted to read and accept license agreements.

You are also asked to specify the underlying operating system. If the platform supports it, the parcel generator adds installation instructions for features having a dependency on .NET Core. Namely, these features include Microsoft machine learning and application components used for remote execution, web service deployment, web node, and compute node configurations. RHEL 7.x is the platform with .NET Core support.

When the script is finished, the location of the parcel, checksum, and CSD is printed to the console. Remember the files do not yet exist. This is just a dry run. Running the script without -n generates the files.

console output messages

Step 4: Review flags

You can run parcel generator with the following flags.

flag	Option	Description
-m	--distro-name [DISTRO]	Target Linux distribution for this parcel, one of: el6 el7 sles11
-l	--add-mml	Add Microsoft ML to the Parcel regardless of the target system.
-a	--accept-eula	Accept all end user license agreements.
-d	--download-mro	Download Microsoft r open for distribution to an offline system.
-s	--silent	Perform a silent, unattended install.
-u	--unattended	Perform an unattended install.
-n	--dry-run	Don't do anything, just show what would be done.
-h	--help	Print this help text.

Step 4: Actual run

Repeat the command without -n parameter. This time, the parcel, .sha, and CSD file are actually created.

$ bash generate_mrs_parcel.sh

Step 5: Copy parcel

By default, Cloudera Manager finds parcels in the Cloudera parcel repository. In this step, copy the parcel you generated to the repository.

Copy MRS-9.1.0-el7.parcel and MRS-9.1.0-el7.parcel.sha to the Cloudera parcel repository, typically /opt/cloudera/parcels.

[root@cdh4-mn0 MRS_Linux]# cp ./MRS-9.1.0-el7.parcel /opt/cloudera/parcel-repo/

[root@cdh4-mn0 MRS_Linux]# cp ./MRS-9.1.0-el7.parcel.sha /opt/cloudera/parcel-repo/

Step 6: Copy CSD

The Custom Service Descriptor (CSD) enables MRS monitoring and administration from within Cloudera Manager. In this step, copy the CSD (a .jar file) to the Cloudera repository for CSD files.

Copy the CSD file MRS-9.1.0-el7-CONFIG.jar to the Cloudera CSD directory, typically /opt/cloudera/csd.

[root@cdh4-mn0 MRS_Linux]# service cloudera-scm-server restart
Modify the permissions of CSD file as follows:

sudo chmod 644 /opt/cloudera/csd/MRS-9.1.0-CONFIG.jar

sudo chown cloudera-scm:cloudera-scm /opt/cloudera/csd/MRS-9.1.0-CONFIG.jar
Restart the cloudera-scm-server service:

sudo service cloudera-scm-server restart

Next steps

After you generate a parcel and CSD and copy the files to the appropriate repositories, the next steps are performed in Cloudera Manager. Start at the Home page to deploy the parcel and activate Microsoft R Server in CDH.