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E-MapReduce:Basic operations on Hive metadata

Last Updated:Mar 25, 2026

E-MapReduce (EMR) metadata management lets you create and delete Hive databases and tables directly from the EMR console. This guide covers four operations: creating a database, creating a table, deleting a table, and deleting a database.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have:

Navigate to the metadata management page

All operations described in this guide start from the metadata management page. Complete these steps once before proceeding to any operation.

  1. Log on to the Alibaba Cloud EMR console.

  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region where your cluster resides and select a resource group.

  3. Click the Metadata tab.

Create a database

Note EMR table management only supports OSS-based databases and tables. Set Data Source to OSS, and set the file location to a directory inside an OSS bucket — not the bucket root.
  1. On the Tables page, click Create Database in the upper-right corner.

  2. In the Create Database dialog box, configure the parameters.

  3. Click OK.

To verify the result, click Tasks.

  • If Status is Successful, the database is created.

  • If Status is Failed, click View Details in the Actions column to identify the cause.

Create a table

Important EMR supports external tables and partitioned tables.
  1. On the Tables page, click a database.

  2. Click Create Table in the upper-right corner.

  3. In the Create Table dialog box, configure the parameters.

    ParameterDescription
    Table NameThe name of the table.
    DelimiterThe field delimiter. Select a preset delimiter or select Custom from the Delimiter drop-down list.
    External TableCreates an external table whose data is stored outside the EMR-managed space. Not selected by default. To create an external table: select the External Table check box, specify a file path, and then click Add Column to configure columns.
    Enable Partition ModePartitions the table to improve query performance. Default value: No. To create a partitioned table: set Enable Partition Mode to Yes, and then click Add Partition Column to configure partition columns.
  4. Click OK.

To verify the result, click Tasks.

  • If Status is Successful, the table is created.

  • If Status is Failed, click View Details in the Actions column to identify the cause.

Delete a table

  1. On the Tables page, click a database.

  2. Find the table you want to delete and click Delete in the Actions column.

  3. In the Delete Table dialog box, click OK.

To verify the result, click Tasks.

  • If Status is Successful, the table is deleted.

  • If Status is Failed, click View Details in the Actions column to identify the cause.

Delete a database

Important

Delete all tables in the database before deleting the database.

  1. On the Tables page, click a database.

  2. Find the database you want to delete and click Delete in the Actions column.

  3. In the Delete Database dialog box, click OK.

To verify the result, click Tasks.

  • If Status is Successful, the database is deleted.

  • If Status is Failed, click View Details in the Actions column to identify the cause.