title: What exactly is hadoop namenode formatting?
body: <p>What exactly is involved in namenode formatting. If I type in the following command into my terminal within my hadoop installation folder:</p>
  
  <pre><code>  bin/hadoop namenode -format
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What exactly does it accomplish? I am looking to understand principles of namenode formatting &amp; its significance. Thanks...</p>