Hi,I have written a detailed chapter-by-chapter review of this book on www DOT i-programmer DOT info, the first and last parts of this review are given here. For my review of all chapters, search i-programmer DOT info for STIRK together with the book's title.This book aims at getting you started in programming with HBase, how does it fare?Hadoop is the most popular platform for processing big data, and HBase is the NoSQL database included with Hadoop. The book is aimed at software developers that have no previous experience of HBase, wanting a hands-on approach.Below is a chapter-by-chapter exploration of the topics covered.Chapter 1 Introducing HBaseThis chapter opens with the observation that relational database management systems (RDBMS) are unable to scale to process huge amounts of data in a timely manner. Instead, this is the realm of big data databases such as HBase.The chapter defines big data in terms of huge volumes, high velocity, and varied types of data. Currently 20 terabytes of data is created every second, and this metric is increasing. The foundations of big data processing were established by Google in their papers on the Google File System (GFS) storage, and MapReduce processing model. Google also produced details of a scalable Bigtable database which could handle millions of columns and billions of rows, HBase is based on Bigtable.The chapter continues with a look at how to install HBase together with its prerequisites. The various modes of running HBase are discussed, these are: local, pseudo-distributed and fully distributed.The various HBase cluster components are briefly described, namely:-HBase Master – coordinates HBase cluster/admin operations-Zookeeper – centralized service for distributed synchronization-Region Servers – store horizontal rows as regionsThe chapter ends with a look at the HBase shell, this provides an environment to run interactive commands or batches, it’s a useful tool for experimenting with HBase. Various commands are introduced, including: status, create table, list, get, put, scan, delete, describe, and drop.This chapter provides a useful introduction to HBase in terms of the history of big data, the need to process huge amounts of data, and an outline of the HBase components. Useful installation instructions are provided, together with a HBase shell tutorial for playing and testing with HBase.This chapter provides well written discussions which are generally easy to read, has helpful diagrams, outputs, scripts, and brief practical walkthroughs. There are useful links to other chapters. Sometimes, terms are used before they are defined (e.g. HMaster and Zookeeper). These traits apply to the whole of the book....ConclusionThe book has well-written discussions which are generally easy to read, helpful diagrams, outputs, scripts, and brief practical walkthroughs. There are useful links to other chapters.This book aims to get you started in programming with HBase, however, it deviates from this, containing as much administration detail as programming. Sometimes terms are used before they are defined (e.g. HMaster and Zookeeper), suggesting you need some knowledge of Hadoop. It would have been helpful to list where to go next to extend your HBase knowledge.This book will help you get up and running with HBase, show you how to use HBase from various clients, and give you an understanding of its internal structure, I can recommend it as a starter book.

Easy to understand....