Requirements for external procedures

Enterprise Mode only

External procedures have requirements regarding their attributes, where you store them, and how you handle their output. You should also be cognizant of their resource usage.

Procedure file attributes

The procedure file cannot be owned by root. It must have the set-user-ID (SUID), user execute, and group execute attributes set. If it is not readable by the Linux database administrator user, then the owner's password will have to be specified when installing the procedure.

Handling procedure output

Vertica does not provide a facility for handling procedure output. Therefore, you must make your own arrangements for handling procedure output, which should include writing error, logging, and program information directly to files that you manage.

Handling resource usage

The Vertica resource manager is unaware of resources used by external procedures. Additionally, Vertica is intended to be the only major process running on your system. If your external procedure is resource intensive, it could affect the performance and stability of Vertica. Consider the types of external procedures you create and when you run them. For example, you might run a resource-intensive procedure during off hours.

Sample procedure file

#!/bin/bash
echo "hello planet argument: $1" >> /tmp/myprocedure.log