Hortonworks is at the leading edge
October 13, 2017

Hortonworks is at the leading edge

Steve Gonzales | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Hortonworks Data Platform

Typically it is used as an enterprise platform. There are very few companies that use it only departmentally. It solved the business problems of maintaining a pure open source Hadoop environment. It also solves for Disaster Recovery and Security. Hadoop was not designed for Security, but with Hortonworks Ranger and Kerberos, you can implement a world class security framework.
  • Security with Ranger. Cell level security. Integration with Kerberos and LDAP.
  • Ambari management console. UI and API that allows complete management of the platform.
  • PLUS components have metadata, streaming, monitoring and other tools that flesh out the offering.
  • Installation is highly complex and needs to be streamlined.
  • The platform itself needs to be a little more stable. It might help to actually slow down releases to make sure they are more stable.
  • Upgrading from lower versions should be easier.
  • Positive ROI for streaming use cases.
  • Negative impact on staffing, it will require 1-2 FTEs more than Cloudera or a BI operations team.
  • Positive ROI for Ambari and the ELK stack. You will get great capabilities for IT Operations.
Cloudera is a more mature platform. It does not require upgrades as often. However, if you need advanced capabilities, you might be lacking with the Cloudera distribution platform. Many of the other tools in the ecosystem are the same or similar. Cost might also be a factor; you will have to negotiate with both vendors to figure out a specific cost for your organization.
Hortonworks Data Platform is well suited:
  • If you require the newest releases and capabilities and are prepared to upgrade frequently
  • If you want full, cell level, ticketing and perimeter security
  • If you want metadata, streaming and other PLUS component capabilities
If you are not prepared to do upgrades at least on a quarterly basis, DO NOT use Hortonworks. If you have a very plain vanilla implementation, you might want to look at pure open source Hadoop.