# Step 2: Launch an Amazon EMR cluster
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In this step, you will configure and launch an Amazon EMR cluster. Hive and a storage handler for DynamoDB will already be installed on the cluster.

1. Open the Amazon EMR console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/emr](https://console.aws.amazon.com/emr/).

1. Choose **Create Cluster**.

1. On the **Create Cluster - Quick Options** page, do the following:

   1. In **Cluster name**, type a name for your cluster (for example: `My EMR cluster`).

   1. In **EC2 key pair**, choose the key pair you created earlier.

   Leave the other settings at their defaults.

1. Choose **Create cluster**.

It will take several minutes to launch your cluster. You can use the **Cluster Details** page in the Amazon EMR console to monitor its progress.

When the status changes to `Waiting`, the cluster is ready for use.

## Cluster log files and Amazon S3
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An Amazon EMR cluster generates log files that contain information about the cluster status and debugging information. The default settings for **Create Cluster - Quick Options** include setting up Amazon EMR logging.

If one does not already exist, the AWS Management Console creates an Amazon S3 bucket. The bucket name is `aws-logs-account-id-region`, where ` account-id` is your AWS account number and `region` is the region in which you launched the cluster (for example, `aws-logs-123456789012-us-west-2`).

**Note**  
You can use the Amazon S3 console to view the log files. For more information, see [View Log Files](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ElasticMapReduce/latest/ManagementGuide/emr-manage-view-web-log-files.html) in the *Amazon EMR Management Guide*.

You can use this bucket for purposes in addition to logging. For example, you can use the bucket as a location for storing a Hive script or as a destination when exporting data from Amazon DynamoDB to Amazon S3.

**Next step**  
[Step 3: Connect to the Leader node](EMRforDynamoDB.Tutorial.ConnectToLeaderNode.md)