1. Before You Begin

To prepare for upgrade, gather the following information:

Cluster Properties: Save a copy of your existing cluster properties file (for example, c:\hdp\cluster.properties) as a starting point for configuring new HDP components.
Files required for uninstalling HDP: Confirm that the uninstallation packages are available on each node in the cluster. The uninstallation package is in c:\HadoopInstallFiles. Without this package, the Uninstaller cannot remove HDP from the node.
HDP data directory: Identify where user data and metadata are being stored by HDFS and MapReduce. These directories are retained during the upgrade process. The data directory is defined in the cluster properties file; for example:
```
 #Data directory HDP_DATA_DIR=c:\hdp_data
```
New HDP components: Identify the hosts for new service components (such as Falcon, Storm, Knox, and Ranger), and ensure that the hosts meet all the prerequisites for the new components.
Hadoop user password: You must run some of the upgrade and configuration steps with the hadoop user, so you must know the password. If you do not know the password for the hadoop user, then reset the password to a known password and continue. To change the password, enter:
```
net user hadoop NewPassword
```