We have been exploring Apache Ambari with HDP 2.2 to setup a cluster. Our backend features three environments: testing, staging and production which is a standard practice in our industry.
When we would deploy a cluster in the testing environment with Ambari, what is the easiest way to have the same cluster configuration on the staging, and later, production environment ? The initial step seems easy: you create a cluster in the testing environment using the UI and then you export the configuration as a blueprint. Subsequently, you use the exported blueprint to create a new cluster in the other environments. So far, so good.
Inevitably, we will need to change our Ambari configuration (e.g. deploy a new service, increase heap size for the JVM’s,…). I was hoping we could just update the blueprint (using the UI or by hand) and then use the updated blueprint to also update the different clusters. However, this seems not possible unless you destroy and recreate the cluster which seems a bit harsh.. (we don’t want to lose our data) ?
Alternatively we could use the REST API of Ambari to do specific updates to the configuration but as configuration changes with respect to the initial blueprint will undoubtedly accumulate, this will prove unwieldy and unmaintainable over time, I am afraid.
Can you suggest us a better solution for this use case?