New Page - Before you start

New Page - Before you start

Author: sreekzz

articles/hdinsight/hdinsight-overview-before-you-start

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+title: Before you start with Azure HDInsight
+description: In Azure HDInsight, few points to be considered before starting to create a cluster.
+ms.service: hdinsight
+ms.topic: overview
+ms.date: 09/20/2022
+
+# Before you start
+
+The following points should be considered before starting to create a cluster.
+
+1. Bring your own database
+
+By default, HDInsight creates a default database during creation. Databases cant' be changed after the cluster is created.
+
+We recommend using custom databases for Ambari, Hive, and Ranger. 
+
+To learn more on how to [Set up HDInsight clusters with a custom Ambari DB](/azure/hdinsight/hdinsight-custom-ambari-db.md) and [Use external metadata stores in Azure HDInsight](/azure/hdinsight/hdinsight-use-external-metadata-stores.md)
+          
+2. Keep your clusters up to date
+
+To take advantage of the latest HDInsight features, we recommend regularly migrating your HDInsight clusters to the latest version. HDInsight doesn't support in-place upgrades where existing clusters are upgraded to new component versions. You need to create a new cluster with the desired components and platform version and migrate your application to use the new cluster.
+
+We recommend updating each version (updates every 30-45 days). The recommended period is less than six months.
+
+To learn more on how to [Set up HDInsight clusters with a custom Ambari DB](/azure/hdinsight/hdinsight-custom-ambari-db) and [Migrate HDInsight cluster to a newer version](/azure/hdinsight/hdinsight-upgrade-cluster)
+
+## Next steps
+
+* [Create Apache Hadoop cluster in HDInsight](./hadoop/apache-hadoop-linux-create-cluster-get-started-portal.md)
+* [Create Apache Spark cluster - Portal](./spark/apache-spark-jupyter-spark-sql-use-portal.md)
+* [Enterprise security in Azure HDInsight](./domain-joined/hdinsight-security-overview.md)