Possibility of taking snapshot of AWS EMR cluster or namenode

Question

I am new with AWS services and trying some use-cases. I want to create EMR clusters on demand with some predefined configurations and applications/scripts installed. I was planning to create a snapshot of existing EMR cluster or at-least namenode initially and then use it every-time whenever I want to create other clusters. But after some Google search, I couldn't find any way to capture snapshot of EMR cluster. Is it possible to create snapshot ? or any other alternate way that can help me out with my use-case.

Appreciate any kind of help.

Thanks

Answer 1

It is not possible to create a snapshot of an EMR cluster node and you cannot use a custom AMI when running a cluster. However you can install software on the cluster nodes at the cluster creation time using custom bootstrap actions. You can create your custom bootstrap scripts and use them every time you launch a new cluster. This way you can achieve a similar functionality with the one you are seeking.

For more information using bootstrap actions on EMR please visit: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ElasticMapReduce/latest/DeveloperGuide/emr-plan-bootstrap.html#bootstrapCustom

Let us know if you need any further assistance.