Planning your installation

• 1: Choosing an on-premises or cloud environment
• 2: Choosing a database mode
• 3: Choosing an installation method
• 4: Planning Eon Mode communal storage

1 - Choosing an on-premises or cloud environment

You can choose to run Vertica on physical host hardware, or deploy Vertica on the cloud.

On-premises environment

Do you have access to on-premises hardware on which to install Vertica? On-premises hardware can provide benefits in cases like the following:

• Your business requirements demand keeping sensitive data on-premises.

• You prefer to pay a higher up-front cost (CapEx) of buying hardware for on-premises deployment, rather than potentially paying a higher long-term total cost of a cloud deployment.

• You cannot rely on continuous access to the internet.

• You prefer end-to-end control over your environment, rather than depending on a third-party cloud provider to store your data.

• You may have already invested in a data center and suitable hardware for Vertica that you want to capitalize on.

If you plan to install Vertica in an on-premises environment, this section of the documentation walks you through preparation and installation: Installing manually.

Cloud environment

Vertica can run on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. You might consider running Vertica on cloud resources for any of the following benefits:

• You plan to quickly scale your cluster size up and down to accommodate varying analytic workload. You will provision more computing resources during peak work loads without incurring the same resource costs during low-demand periods. The Vertica database's Eon Mode is designed for this use case.

• You prefer to pay over time (OpEx) for ongoing cloud deployment, rather than the higher up-front cost of buying hardware for on-premises deployment.

• You need to reduce the costs, labor, and expertise involved in maintaining physical on-premises hardware (such as accommodating for server purchases, hardware depreciation, software maintenance, power consumption, floor space, and backup infrastructure).

• You prefer simpler, faster deployment. Installing on the cloud eliminates the need for more specific hardware expertise during setup. In addition, on cloud platforms such as AWS and GCP, Vertica offers templates on that allow you to deploy a pre-configured set of resources on which Vertica and Management Console are already installed, in just a few steps.

• You have very variable workloads and you do not want to pay for idle equipment in a data center when you can simply rent infrastructure when you need it.

• You are a start-up and don't want to build out a data center until your product or service is proven and growing.

If you plan to install Vertica on the cloud, first see Installing in the cloud.

2 - Choosing a database mode

You can create a Vertica database in one of two modes: Eon Mode or Enterprise Mode. The mode determines the database's underlying architecture, such as the way Vertica stores data, how the database cluster scales, and how data is loaded; the mode cannot be changed after database creation. Database mode does not affect the way you run queries and other everyday tasks while using the database.

For an in-depth explanation of Enterprise Mode and Eon Mode, see Architecture.

3 - Choosing an installation method

After you have decided how you will run Vertica, you can choose which installation method works for your needs.

Installing Vertica manually

Manually installing Vertica through the command line works on all platforms. You will first set up a cluster of nodes, then install Vertica.

Manual installation might be right for you if your cluster will have many specific configuration requirements, and you have a database administrator with the expertise to set up the cluster manually on your chosen platform. Manual installation takes more time, but you can configure your cluster to your system's exact needs.

For an on-premises environment, you must install Vertica manually. See Installing manually to get started.

For Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, you have the option to install automatically or manually. See Installing in the cloud for information on manual installation on each cloud platform.

Install Vertica automatically

Automatic installation is available on Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.

Automatic installation deploys a pre-configured environment consisting of cloud resources on which your cluster can run, with Vertica and Management Console already installed. Enter a few parameters into a template on your chosen platform, and quickly to get up and running with Vertica.

In addition, when you deploy automatically with AWS, Management Console provides AWS-specific cluster management capabilities, including a cluster creation wizard that spins up AWS cluster nodes and creates a Vertica database on them.

For Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, you have the option to install automatically or manually. See Installing in the cloud for information on manual installation on each cloud platform.

4 - Planning Eon Mode communal storage

If you choose to install your database using Eon Mode, you must plan for your use of communal storage to store your database's data. Communal storage is based on an object store, such as AWS S3 or Pure Storage FlashBlade servers.

Whatever object storage platform you use, you must ensure that it is durable (protected against data loss). The data in your Eon Mode database is only as safe as the object store that contains it. Most cloud provider's object stores come with a guaranteed redundancy to prevent data loss. When you install an Eon Mode database on-premises, you may have to take additional steps to prevent data loss.

Planning communal storage capacity for on-premises databases

Most cloud providers do not limit the amount of data you can store in their object stores. The only real limit is your budget; storing more data costs more money.

When you deploy an Eon Mode database on-premises, your storage is limited to the size of your object store. Unlike the cloud, you must plan ahead for the amount of storage you will need. For example, if you have a Pure Admin FlashBlade installation with three 8TB blades, then in theory, your database can grow up to 24TB. In practice, you need to account other uses of your object store, as well as factors such as data compression, and space consumed by unreaped ROS containers (storage containers no longer used by Vertica but not yet deleted by the object store).

The following calculator helps you determine the size for your communal storage needs, based on your estimated data size and additional uses of your communal storage. The values with white backgrounds in the Value column are editable. Change them to reflect your environment.