Vertica Blog

Jim Knicely authored this tip. The Vertica AUDIT function can be used to estimate the raw data size of a database, schema, or table. Ever wonder if it’s accurate? A simple test shows that it is 100 percent accurate if you specify an error tolerance of 0 and a confidence level of 100. Example: First […]

Jim Knicely authored this tip. One of the very first Vertica questions I was asked from a client was how to generate an auto-incrementing alphabetical series using SQL for use as a primary key in a table. For example, the user wanted to generate this result set: AA AB AC AD AE … ZX ZY […]

Jim Knicely authored this post. In vsql, the /pset meta-command is used to set options that control how Vertica formats query result output. One of my favorites is the null option which allows you to specify an alternative value for null in the result set of a query. Example: dbadmin=> \pset NULL ‘Unknown’; \pset: unknown […]

Jim Knicely authored this tip. Vertica supports several special date/time values for our convenience. All of these values need to be written in single quotes when used as constants in SQL statements. My favorite is ALLBALLS which is named so because the time digits look like balls (I had to Google that). Example: dbadmin=> SELECT […]

Jim Knicely authored this tip. vsql is a character-based, interactive, front-end utility that lets you type SQL statements and see the results. The results from vsql are formatted nicely with a border between columns. You are probably used to viewing border style 1, the default, but you may prefer border styles 0 or 2! Example: […]

Jim Knicely authored this tip. There are over 180 built-in Vertica system tables in the V_CATALOG and V_MONITOR schemas. Trying to remember which system tables contain a certain column can be a daunting task. Instead, query the V_CATALOG.SYSTEM_COLUMNS system table! Example: dbadmin=> SELECT table_schema, table_name, column_name dbadmin-> FROM v_catalog.system_columns dbadmin-> WHERE column_name = ‘anchor_table_name’ dbadmin-> […]

Vertica is looking for outstanding software engineers and QA engineers. We are hiring full-time employees and summer 2019 interns in our Cambridge, MA and Pittsburgh, PA offices. You’ll have the opportunity to add your innovative ideas to our flagship product, massively scalable database that is used for many of the most challenging Big Data workloads. […]

Vertica is looking for outstanding software engineers and QA engineers. We are hiring full-time employees and summer 2019 interns in our Cambridge, MA and Pittsburgh, PA offices. You’ll have the opportunity to add your innovative ideas to our flagship product, massively scalable database that is used for many of the most challenging Big Data workloads. […]

Jim Knicely authored this tip. Your Vertica database probably contains hundreds, if not thousands, of tables. Trying to remember which tables contain a certain column can be a daunting task. Instead, query the V_CATALOG.COLUMNS system table! Example: Which tables have a column named “DateKey”? dbadmin=> SELECT table_schema, table_name, column_name dbadmin-> FROM v_catalog.columns dbadmin-> WHERE column_name […]

Jim Knicely authored this post. One of the files generated by the /opt/vertica/scripts/collect_diag_dump.sh script details the raw and compressed size for every table in the Vertica database. At the bottom of the report there is a “total” line that shows the database raw and compressed size! Example [dbadmin@vertica8 ~]$ /opt/vertica/scripts/collect_diag_dump.sh -c -s false Database Password: […]