Platform Requirements and Recommendations

You must verify that your servers meet the platform requirements described in Supported Platforms. The Supported Platforms topics detail supported versions for the following:

• OS for Server and Management Console (MC)
• Supported Browsers for MC
• Vertica driver compatibility
• R
• Hadoop
• Various plug-ins

BASH Shell

All shell scripts included in Vertica must run under the BASH shell. If you are on a Debian system, then the default shell can be DASH. DASH is not supported. Change the shell for root and for the dbadmin user to BASH with the chsh command.

For example:

# getent passwd | grep root
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/dash

# chsh
Changing shell for root.
New shell [/bin/dash]: /bin/bash
Shell changed.

Then, as root, change the symbolic link for /bin/sh from /bin/dash to /bin/bash:

# rm /bin/sh
# ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

Log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Install the Latest Vendor Specific System Software

Install the latest vendor drivers for your hardware. For Hewlett Packard Servers, update to the latest versions for:

• HP ProLiant Smart Array Controller Driver (cciss)
• Smart Array Controller Firmware
• HP Array Configuration Utility (HP ACU CLI)

Data Storage Recommendations

• All internal drives connect to a single RAID controller.
• The RAID array should form one hardware RAID device as a contiguous /data volume.

Validation Utilities

Vertica provides several validation utilities that validate the performance on prospective hosts. The utilities are installed when you install the Vertica RPM, but you can use them before you run the install_vertica script. See Validation Scripts for more details on running the utilities and verifying that your hosts meet the recommended requirements.