Tutorial: Setting up an Example Database

Prerequisites

Before you proceed, Vertica must be installed on one host or a cluster of hosts, as described in the Installing Vertica. OpenText recommends a minimum of three hosts in the cluster.

Audience

This tutorial targets anyone who wants to learn how to create and run a Vertica database. No special database knowledge is required at this point, though a rudimentary knowledge of basic SQL commands could be useful when you begin to run queries.

Objectives

You'll follow the simple steps below to create a fully-functioning, comprehensive design using the VMart Example Database.

1. Set up the example environment
2. Create the example database
3. Define the database schema
4. Load the data
5. Create a comprehensive design
6. Connect to the database and run a simple query
7. Test the optimized design
8. (Optional) Generate custom data files

It's that easy! The whole process takes about 15 minutes, and when you are finished, you can proceed directly to Running Simple Queries.

Notes This tutorial uses a Vertica-provided query, but you can follow the same set of procedures later, when you create your own design and use your own queries file. If, in the future, you have a query that you want to optimize, you can create an incremental design with additional projections to be tuned specifically for the query you provide. See Incremental Design in the Administrator's Guide. For additional information about managing your designs, see Creating a Database Design in the Administrator's Guide.