Database modes

You can create a database in Enterprise Mode or Eon Mode.

You can create a database in Enterprise Mode or Eon Mode. After you create a database, the functionality is largely the same regardless of the mode. The differences in these two modes lay in their architecture, deployment, and scalability.

Enterprise Mode database architecture distributes data across local nodes, and works on-premises or in the cloud. Consider creating the database in this mode on a cluster of predetermined size, which is good for running large queries quickly. Because it persistently stores its data locally, you do not need to have access to communal storage on Amazon S3 to use an Enterprise Mode database. Enterprise Mode conceptsincludes an overview of how data store works on a database running in Enterprise Mode.

Eon Mode database architecture leverages the flexibility of EC2 instances and the persistence of Amazon S3. Eon Mode databases are ideal when you want to frequently scale up your cluster in order to run many short, concurrent queries. Because an Eon Mode database stores its data in a persistent location outside of its local nodes, you can rapidly adjust the size of your cluster without interrupting ongoing workloads when you do so. (See Eon Mode for more about Eon Mode database concepts.)

Separating the computational processes of Vertica from its storage layer is what allows you to scale your Eon Mode database up quickly as your workload changes; in Eon Mode, a scaled up cluster means the database can increase the number of queries you can run concurrently. You can only run Eon Mode on Amazon Web Services.

Running Vertica in Eon Mode might be a good choice in the following situations:

  • You are deploying Vertica in the AWS cloud.

  • You have variable workloads that sometimes require a number of short, simultaneous queries.

  • You need to elastically scale your database resources.

You can install Vertica with Eon Mode using an Amazon CloudFormation template and in-browser wizards provided by Vertica Management Console. See Vertica on Amazon Web Services and Creating an Eon Mode database in AWS with MC for more information.