Auto-projections

Auto-projections are that Vertica automatically generates for tables, both temporary and persistent.

Auto-projections are superprojections that Vertica automatically generates for tables, both temporary and persistent. In general, if no projections have been defined for a table, Vertica automatically creates projections for that table when you first load data into it. The following rules apply to all auto-projections:

Vertica creates the auto-projection in the same schema as the table.
Auto-projections conform to encoding, sort order, segmentation, and K-safety as specified in the table's creation statement.
If the table creation statement contains an AS SELECT clause, Vertica uses some properties of the projection definition's underlying query.

Auto-projection triggers

The conditions for creating auto-projections differ, depending on whether the table is temporary or persistent:

Table type Auto-projection trigger

Temporary CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE statement, unless it includes NO PROJECTION.

Persistent

Table type	Auto-projection trigger
Temporary	CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE statement, unless it includes `NO PROJECTION`.
Persistent	CREATE TABLE statement contains one of these clauses: AS SELECT ENCODED BY `ORDER BY` SEGMENTED BY / UNSEGMENTED `KSAFE` If none of these conditions are true, Vertica automatically creates a superprojection (if one does not already exist) when you first load data into the table with INSERT or COPY.

CREATE TABLE statement contains one of these clauses:

AS SELECT
ENCODED BY
ORDER BY
SEGMENTED BY / UNSEGMENTED
KSAFE

If none of these conditions are true, Vertica automatically creates a superprojection (if one does not already exist) when you first load data into the table with INSERT or COPY.

Default segmentation and sort order

If CREATE TABLE or CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE omits a segmentation (SEGMENTED BY or UNSEGMENTED) or ORDER BY clause, Vertica segments and sorts auto-projections as follows:

If the table creation statement omits a segmentation (SEGMENTED BY or UNSEGMENTED) clause, Vertica checks configuration parameter SegmentAutoProjection to determine whether to create an auto projection that is segmented or unsegmented. By default, this parameter is set to 1 (enable).

If SegmentAutoProjection is enabled and a table's creation statement also omits an ORDER BY clause, Vertica segments and sorts the table's auto-projection according to the table's manner of creation:

If CREATE [TEMPORARY] TABLE contains an AS SELECT clause and the query output is segmented, the auto-projection uses the same segmentation. If the result set is already sorted, the projection uses the same sort order.
In all other cases, Vertica evaluates table column constraints to determine how to sort and segment the projection, as shown below:

Constraints	Sorted by:	Segmented by:
Primary key	Primary key	Primary key
Primary and foreign keys	Foreign keys 2. Primary key	Primary key
Foreign keys only	Foreign keys 2. Remaining columns excluding LONG data types, up to the limit set in configuration parameter MaxAutoSortColumns (by default 8).	All columns excluding LONG data types, up to the limit set in configuration parameter MaxAutoSegColumns (by default 8). Vertica orders segmentation as follows: `1. Small (≤ 8 byte) data type columns: Columns are specified in the same order as they are defined in the table CREATE statement. 1. Large (>8 byte) data type columns: Columns are ordered by ascending size.`
None	All columns excluding LONG data types, in the order specified by `CREATE TABLE`.

For example, the following table is defined with no primary or foreign keys:

=> CREATE TABLE testAutoProj(c10 char (10), v1 varchar(140) DEFAULT v2||v3, i int, c5 char(5), v3 varchar (80), d timestamp, v2 varchar(60), c1 char(1));
CREATE TABLE
=> INSERT INTO testAutoProj VALUES
   ('1234567890',
   DEFAULT,
   1,
   'abcde',
   'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor ',
   current_timestamp,
   'incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Eu scelerisque',
   'a');
 OUTPUT
--------
  1
(1 row)
=> COMMIT;
COMMIT

Before the INSERT statement loads data into this table for the first time, Vertica automatically creates a superprojection for the table:

=> SELECT export_objects('', 'testAutoProj_b0');
--------------------------------------------------------

CREATE PROJECTION public.testAutoProj_b0 /*+basename(testAutoProj),createtype(L)*/
( c10, v1, i, c5, v3, d, v2, c1 )
AS
 SELECT testAutoProj.c10,
    testAutoProj.v1,
    testAutoProj.i,
    testAutoProj.c5,
    testAutoProj.v3,
    testAutoProj.d,
    testAutoProj.v2,
    testAutoProj.c1
 FROM public.testAutoProj
 ORDER BY testAutoProj.c10,
      testAutoProj.v1,
      testAutoProj.i,
      testAutoProj.c5,
      testAutoProj.v3,
      testAutoProj.d,
      testAutoProj.v2,
      testAutoProj.c1
SEGMENTED BY hash(testAutoProj.i, testAutoProj.c5, testAutoProj.d, testAutoProj.c1, testAutoProj.c10, testAutoProj.v2, testAutoProj.v3, testAutoProj.v1) ALL NODES OFFSET 0;

SELECT MARK_DESIGN_KSAFE(1);

(1 row)