Collect Information
Before deploying a cluster, you should collect the following information:
The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of each host in your system. The Ambari install wizard supports using IP addresses. You can use
hostname -f
to check or verify the FQDN of a host.
![[Note]](../common/images/admon/note.png)
Note Deploying all components on a single host is possible, but is appropriate only for initial evaluation purposes. Typically, you set up at least three hosts; one master host and two slaves, as a minimum cluster.
A list of components you want to set up on each host.
The base directories you want to use as mount points for storing:
NameNode data
DataNodes data
Secondary NameNode data
Oozie data
YARN data
ZooKeeper data, if you install ZooKeeper
Various log, pid, and db files, depending on your install type
![[Important]](../common/images/admon/important.png)
Important You must use base directories that provide persistent storage locations for your components and your data. Installing components in locations that may be removed from a host may result in cluster failure or data loss. For example: Do Not use
/tmpin a base directory path.

