Installation Overview and Checklist

This page provides an overview of installation tasks. Carefully review and follow the instructions in all sections in this topic.

Important Notes

Vertica supports only one running database per cluster.
Vertica supports installation on one, two, or multiple nodes. The steps for Installing Vertica are the same, no matter how many nodes are in the cluster.
Prerequisites listed in Before You Install Vertica are required for all Vertica configurations.
Only one instance of Vertica can be running on a host at any time.
To run the install_vertica script, as well as adding, updating, or deleting nodes, you must be logged in as root, or sudo as a user with all privileges. You must run the script for all installations, including upgrades and single-node installations.

Installation Scenarios

The four main scenarios for installing Vertica on hosts are:

A single node install, where Vertica is installed on a single host as a localhost process. This form of install cannot be expanded to more hosts later on and is typically used for development or evaluation purposes.
Installing to a cluster of physical host hardware. This is the most common scenario when deploying Vertica in a testing or production environment.
Installing on Amazon Web Services (AWS). When you choose the recommended Amazon Machine Image (AMI), Vertica is installed when you create your instances. For the AWS specific installation procedure, see Installing and Running Vertica on AWS: The Detailed Procedure rather than the using the steps for installation and upgrade that appear in this guide.
Installing to a local cluster of virtual host hardware. Also similar to installing on physical hosts, but with network configuration differences.

Before You Install

Before You Install Vertica describes how to construct a hardware platform and prepare Linux for Vertica installation.

These preliminary steps are broken into two categories:

Configuring Hardware and Installing Linux
Configuring the Network

Install or Upgrade Vertica

Once you have completed the steps in the Before You Install Vertica section, you are ready to run the install script.

Installing Vertica describes how to:

Back up any existing databases.
Download and install the Vertica RPM package.
Install a cluster using the install_vertica script.
[Optional] Create a properties file that lets you install Vertica silently.

Note: This guide provides additional manual procedures in case you encounter installation problems.

Upgrading Vertica describes how to upgrade to a more recent version of the software.

Note: If you are upgrading your Vertica license, refer to Managing Licenses in the Administrator's Guide.

Post-Installation Tasks

After You Install Vertica describes subsequent steps to take after you've run the installation script. Some of the steps can be skipped based on your needs:

Install the license key.
Verify that kernel and user parameters are correctly set.
Install the vsql client application on non-cluster hosts.
Resolve any SLES 11.3 issues during spread configuration.
Use the Vertica documentation online, or download and install Vertica documentation. Find the online documentation and documentation packages to download at http://my.vertica.com/docs.
Install client drivers.
Extend your installation with Vertica packages.
Install or upgrade the Management Console.

Get started!

Read the Concepts Guide for a high-level overview of the Vertica Analytics Platform.
Proceed to the Installing and Connecting to the VMart Example Database in Getting Started, where you will be guided through setting up a database, loading sample data, and running sample queries.