I have a "map only" (no reduce phase) program. The size of input file is large enough to create 7 map tasks and I have verified that by looking the output produced (part-000 to part006) . Now, my cluster has 8 nodes each with 8 cores and 8 GB of memory and shared filesystem hosted at head node.
My question is can I choose between running all the 7 map tasks in 1 node only or running the 7 map tasks in 7 different slave nodes (1 task per node). If I can do so, then what change in my code and configuration file is needed.
I tried setting the parameter "mapred.tasktracker.map.tasks.maximum" to 1 and 7 in my code only but I didnot find any appreciable time difference. In my configuration file it is set as 1.