Administration overview

This document describes the functions performed by a Vertica database administrator (DBA). Perform these tasks using only the dedicated database administrator account that was created when you installed Vertica. The examples in this documentation set assume that the administrative account name is dbadmin.

• To perform certain cluster configuration and administration tasks, the DBA (users of the administrative account) must be able to supply the root password for those hosts. If this requirement conflicts with your organization's security policies, these functions must be performed by your IT staff.

• If you perform administrative functions using a different account from the account provided during installation, Vertica encounters file ownership problems.

• If you share the administrative account password, make sure that only one user runs the Administration tools at any time. Otherwise, automatic configuration propagation does not work correctly.

• The Administration Tools require that the calling user's shell be /bin/bash. Other shells give unexpected results and are not supported.