Use the MC cluster installation wizard

The Cluster Installation Wizard guides you through the steps required to install a Vertica cluster on hosts that do not already have Vertica software installed.

The Cluster Installation Wizard guides you through the steps required to install a Vertica cluster on hosts that do not already have Vertica software installed.

Prerequisites

Before you proceed, make sure you:

  • Installed and configured Management Console.

  • Prepared the hosts that you will include in the Vertica database cluster.

  • Created the private key (pem) file and copied it to your local machine.

  • Obtained a copy of your Vertica license if you are installing the Premium Edition. If you are using the Community Edition, a license key is not required.

  • Downloaded the Vertica server RPM (or DEB file).

  • Have read/copy permissions on files stored on the local browser host that you will transfer to the host on which MC is installed.

Permissions on files to transfer to MC

On your local workstation, you must have at least read/write privileges on files you'll upload to MC through the Cluster Installation Wizard. These files include the Vertica server package, the license key (if needed), the private key file, and an optional CSV file of IP addresses.

Create a Vertica cluster using MC

  1. Connect to Management Console and log in as an MC administrator.

  2. On MC's Home page, click the Provisioning task. The Provisioning dialog appears.

  3. Click Create new database.

  4. The Create Cluster wizard opens. Provide the following information:

    1. Cluster name—A label for the cluster. Choose a name that is unique within MC. IF you do not enter a name here, MC assigns a random unique cluster name. You can edit the name later when you view the cluster on the Infrastructure page. Note that this name is an alias that exists only in MC. If you reimport the cluster, you would need to edit the cluster name again to reestablish this name.

    2. Vertica Admin User—The user that is created on each of the nodes when they are installed, typically 'dbadmin'. This user has access to Vertica and is also an OS user on the host.

    3. Password for the Vertica Admin User—The password you enter (required) is set for each node when MC installs Vertica.

    4. Vertica Admin Path—Storage location for catalog files, which defaults to /home/dbadmin unless you specified a different path during MC configuration (or later on MC's Settings page).

  5. Click Next and specify the private key file and host information:

    1. Click Browse and navigate to the private key file (vid_rsa) that you created earlier.

    2. Include the host IP addresses. You have three options:

      Specify later (but include number of nodes). This option allows you to specify the number of nodes, but not the specific IPs. You can specify the specific IPs before you validate hosts.

      Import IP addresses from local file. You can specify the hosts in a CSV file using either IP addresses or host names.

      Enter a range of IP addresses. You can specify a range of IPs to use for new nodes. For example 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.30. The range of IPs must be on the same or contiguous subnets.

  6. Click Next and select the software and license:

    1. Vertica Software. If one or more Vertica packages have been uploaded, you can select one from the list. Otherwise, select Upload a new local vertica binary file and browse to a Vertica server file on your local system.

    2. Vertica License. Click Browse and navigate to a local copy of your Vertica license if you are installing the Premium Edition. Community Edition versions require no license key.

  7. Click Next. The Create cluster page opens. If you did not specify the IP addresses, select each host icon and provide an IP address by entering the IP in the box and clicking Apply for each host you add.

You are now ready to Validate hosts and create the cluster.