In order to distcp between two HDFS HA cluster (for example A and B), using nameservice id or to setup falcon clusters having namenode ha, these settings are needed. Assuming nameservice for cluster A and B is HAA and HAB respectively. One need to set following properties in hdfs-site.xml Add value of the nameservices of both clusters in dfs.nameservices. This needs to be done in both the clusters. dfs.nameservices=HAA,HAB Add property dfs.internal.nameservices In cluster A: dfs.internal.nameservices = HAA In cluster B: dfs.internal.nameservices = HAB Add dfs.ha.namenodes.<nameservice>. dfs.ha.namenodes.HAB=nn1,nn2 dfs.ha.namenodes.HAA=nn1,nn2 Add property dfs.namenode.rpc-address.<nameservice>.<nn>. dfs.namenode.rpc-address.HAB.nn1 = <NN1_fqdn>:8020 dfs.namenode.rpc-address.HAB.nn2 = <NN2_fqdn>:8020 dfs.namenode.rpc-address.HAA.nn1 = <NN1_fqdn>:8020 dfs.namenode.rpc-address.HAA.nn2 = <NN2_fqdn>:8020 Add property dfs.client.failover.proxy.provider.<nameservice> In cluster A dfs.client.failover.proxy.provider.HAB = org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.ha.ConfiguredFailoverProxyProvider In cluster B dfs.client.failover.proxy.provider.HAA = org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.ha.ConfiguredFailoverProxyProvider Restart HDFS service. Once complete you will be able to run the distcp command using the nameservice similar to: hadoop distcp hdfs://HAA/tmp/file1 hdfs://HAB/tmp/ ... View more