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Prepare disk storage locations

You must create and specify directories in which to store your catalog and data files ().

You must create and specify directories in which to store your catalog and data files (physical schema). You can specify these locations when you install or configure the database, or later during database operations. Both the catalog and data directories must be owned by the database superuser.

The directory you specify for database catalog files (the catalog path) is used across all nodes in the cluster. For example, if you specify /home/catalog as the catalog directory, Vertica uses that catalog path on all nodes. The catalog directory should always be separate from any data file directories.

The data path you designate is also used across all nodes in the cluster. Specifying that data should be stored in /home/data, Vertica uses this path on all database nodes.

Do not use a single directory to contain both catalog and data files. You can store the catalog and data directories on different drives, which can be either on drives local to the host (recommended for the catalog directory) or on a shared storage location, such as an external disk enclosure or a SAN.

Before you specify a catalog or data path, be sure the parent directory exists on all nodes of your database. Creating a database in admintools also creates the catalog and data directories, but the parent directory must exist on each node.

You do not need to specify a disk storage location during installation. However, you can do so by using the --data-dir parameter to the install_vertica script. See Specifying disk storage location during installation.

1 - Specifying disk storage location during database creation

When you invoke the Create Database command in the , a dialog box allows you to specify the catalog and data locations.

When you invoke the Create Database command in the Administration tools, a dialog box allows you to specify the catalog and data locations. These locations must exist on each host in the cluster and must be owned by the database administrator.

Database data directories

When you click OK, Vertica automatically creates the following subdirectories:

catalog-pathname/database-name/node-name_catalog/data-pathname/database-name/node-name_data/

For example, if you use the default value (the database administrator's home directory) of /home/dbadmin for the Stock Exchange example database, the catalog and data directories are created on each node in the cluster as follows:

/home/dbadmin/Stock_Schema/stock_schema_node1_host01_catalog/home/dbadmin/Stock_Schema/stock_schema_node1_host01_data

Notes

  • Catalog and data path names must contain only alphanumeric characters and cannot have leading space characters. Failure to comply with these restrictions will result in database creation failure.

  • Vertica refuses to overwrite a directory if it appears to be in use by another database. Therefore, if you created a database for evaluation purposes, dropped the database, and want to reuse the database name, make sure that the disk storage location previously used has been completely cleaned up. See Managing storage locations for details.

2 - Specifying disk storage location on MC

You can use the MC interface to specify where you want to store database metadata on the cluster in the following ways:.

You can use the MC interface to specify where you want to store database metadata on the cluster in the following ways:

  • When you configure MC the first time

  • When you create new databases using on MC

See also

Configuring Management Console.

3 - Configuring disk usage to optimize performance

Once you have created your initial storage location, you can add additional storage locations to the database later.

Once you have created your initial storage location, you can add additional storage locations to the database later. Not only does this provide additional space, it lets you control disk usage and increase I/O performance by isolating files that have different I/O or access patterns. For example, consider:

  • Isolating execution engine temporary files from data files by creating a separate storage location for temp space.

  • Creating labeled storage locations and storage policies, in which selected database objects are stored on different storage locations based on measured performance statistics or predicted access patterns.

See also

Managing storage locations

4 - Using shared storage with Vertica

If using shared SAN storage, ensure there is no contention among the nodes for disk space or bandwidth.

If using shared SAN storage, ensure there is no contention among the nodes for disk space or bandwidth.

  • Each host must have its own catalog and data locations. Hosts cannot share catalog or data locations.

  • Configure the storage so that there is enough I/O bandwidth for each node to access the storage independently.

5 - Viewing database storage information

You can view node-specific information on your Vertica cluster through the.

You can view node-specific information on your Vertica cluster through the Management Console. See Monitoring Vertica Using Management Console for details.

6 - Anti-virus scanning exclusions

You should exclude the Vertica catalog and data directories from anti-virus scanning.

You should exclude the Vertica catalog and data directories from anti-virus scanning. Certain anti-virus products have been identified as targeting Vertica directories, and sometimes lock or delete files in them. This can adversely affect Vertica performance and data integrity.

Identified anti-virus products include the following:

  • ClamAV

  • SentinelOne

  • Sophos

  • Symantec

  • Twistlock