ambari

Ambari is an open-source management and monitoring platform for Hadoop clusters. It provides an integrated solution for provisioning, configuring, managing, and monitoring Hadoop components and their services. Ambari was originally developed by Hortonworks and later donated to the Apache Software Foundation, where it continues as an Apache project.

The platform comprises two main parts: Ambari Server and Ambari Agents. Ambari Server runs the web UI and a RESTful API; Ambari Agents run on each cluster node and perform directed tasks from the server. The architecture models software as stacks, services, and components, with host groups that enable automated provisioning and scaling. Blueprints allow repeatable, automated cluster deployments across multiple environments.

Key capabilities include cluster provisioning and lifecycle management, centralized configuration management with a desired-state model, and monitoring and alerting. Ambari collects metrics through the Ambari Metrics System and exposes dashboards and external APIs for integration. It also provides role-based access control and auditability for multi-tenant environments.

Ambari is released under the Apache License 2.0 and is designed to work with Hadoop ecosystems that support its agent and stack definitions. It has historically been associated with Hortonworks' distributions such as HDP and with Apache Hadoop, and it functions as a management layer for those stacks. Its usage has been most prominent in on-premises deployments and in organizations prioritizing uniform cluster provisioning and governance.