OpenText Analytics Database 26.2.x – Using the administration tools

Admin: Running the administration tools

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Administration tools, or "admintools," supports various commands to manage your database.

To run admintools, you must have SSH and local connections enabled for the dbadmin user.

Syntax

/opt/vertica/bin/admintools [--debug ][
     { -h | --help }
   | { -a | --help_all}
   | { -t | --tool } name_of_tool [options]
]

`--debug`	If you include this option, debug information is logged. Note You can specify the `debug` option with or without naming a specific tool. If you specify `debug` with a specific tool, debug information is logged during tool execution. If you do not specify a tool, debug information is logged when you run tools through the admintools user interface.
`-h` `--help`	Outputs abbreviated help.
`-a` `--help_all`	Outputs verbose help, which lists all command-line sub-commands and options.
`{ -t \| --tool }` `name_of_tool` `[``options``]`	Specifies the tool to run, where `name_of_tool` is one of the tools described in the help output, and `options` are one or more comma-delimited tool arguments. Note Enter `admintools -h` to see the list of tools available. Enter `admintools -t` `name_of_tool` `--help` to review a specific tool's options.

An unqualified admintools command displays the Main Menu dialog box.

If you are unfamiliar with this type of interface, read Using the administration tools interface.

Privileges

dbadmin user

Admin: First login as database administrator

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The first time you log in as the Database Superuser and run the Administration Tools, the user interface displays.

In the end-user license agreement (EULA ) window, type accept to proceed.

A window displays, requesting the location of the license key file you downloaded from the OpenText™ Analytics Database website. The default path is /tmp/vlicense.dat.
Type the absolute path to your license key (for example,

Admin: Using the administration tools interface

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Administration Tools are implemented using Dialog, a graphical user interface that works in terminal (character-cell) windows. The interface responds to mouse clicks in some terminal windows, particularly local Linux windows, but you might find that it responds only to keystrokes. Thus, this section describes how to use the Administration Tools using only keystrokes.

Note

This section does not describe every possible combination of keystrokes you can use to accomplish a particular task. Feel free to experiment and to use whatever keystrokes you prefer.

Enter [return]

In all dialogs, when you are ready to run a command, select a file, or cancel the dialog, press the Enter key. The command descriptions in this section do not explicitly instruct you to press Enter.

OK - cancel - help

The OK, Cancel, and Help buttons are present on virtually all dialogs. Use the tab, space bar, or right and left arrow keys to select an option and then press Enter. The same keystrokes apply to dialogs that present a choice of Yes or No.

Some dialogs require that you choose one command from a menu. Type the alphanumeric character shown or use the up and down arrow keys to select a command and then press Enter.

List dialogs

In a list dialog, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight items, then use the space bar to select the items (which marks them with an X). Some list dialogs allow you to select multiple items. When you have finished selecting items, press Enter.

Form dialogs

In a form dialog (also referred to as a dialog box), use the tab key to cycle between OK, Cancel, Help, and the form field area. Once the cursor is in the form field area, use the up and down arrow keys to select an individual field (highlighted) and enter information. When you have finished entering information in all fields, press Enter.

Help buttons

Online help is provided in the form of text dialogs. If you have trouble viewing the help, see Notes for remote terminal users.

Admin: Notes for remote terminal users

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The appearance of the graphical interface depends on the color and font settings used by your terminal window. The screen captures in this document were made using the default color and font settings in a PuTTy terminal application running on a Windows platform.

Note

If you are using a remote terminal application, such as PuTTy or a Cygwin bash shell, make sure your window is at least 81 characters wide and 23 characters high.

If you are using PuTTY, you can make the Administration Tools look like the screen captures in this document:

In a PuTTY window, right click the title area and select Change Settings.
Create or load a saved session.
In the Category dialog, click Window > Appearance.
In the Font settings, click the Change... button.
Select Font: Courier New: Regular Size: 10
Click Apply.

Repeat these steps for each existing session that you use to run the Administration Tools.

You can also change the translation to support UTF-8:

In a PuTTY window, right click the title area and select Change Settings.
Create or load a saved session.
In the Category dialog, click Window > Translation.
In the "Received data assumed to be in which character set" drop-down menu, select UTF-8.
Click Apply.

Admin: Using administration tools help

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Help on Using the Administration Tools command displays a help screen about using the Administration Tools.

Most of the online help in the Administration Tools is context-sensitive. For example, if you use up/down arrows to select a command, press tab to move to the Help button, and press return, you get help on the selected command.

Use the up and down arrow keys to choose the command for which you want help.
Use the Tab key to move the cursor to the Help button.
Press Enter (Return).

In a dialog box

Use the up and down arrow keys to choose the field on which you want help.
Use the Tab key to move the cursor to the Help button.
Press Enter (Return).

Scrolling

Some help files are too long for a single screen. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the text.

Admin: Distributing changes made to the administration tools metadata

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Administration Tools-specific metadata for a failed node will fall out of synchronization with other cluster nodes if you make the following changes:

Modify the restart policy
Add one or more nodes
Drop one or more nodes.

When you restore the node to the database cluster, you can use the Administration Tools to update the node with the latest Administration Tools metadata:

Log on to a host that contains the metadata you want to transfer and start the Administration Tools. (See Using the administration tools.)
On the Main Menu in the Administration Tools, select Configuration Menu and click OK.
On the Configuration Menu, select Distribute Config Files and click OK.
Select AdminTools Meta-Data.

The Administration Tools metadata is distributed to every host in the cluster.
Restart the database.

Admin: Administration tools and Management Console

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

You can perform most database administration tasks using the Administration Tools, but you have the additional option of using the more visual and dynamic Management Console.

The following table compares the functionality available in both interfaces. Continue to use Administration Tools and the command line to perform actions not yet supported by Management Console.

Database Functionality	Management Console	Administration Tools
Use a Web interface for the administration of the database	Yes	No
Manage/monitor one or more databases and clusters through a UI	Yes	No
Manage multiple databases on different clusters	Yes	Yes
View database cluster state	Yes	Yes
View multiple cluster states	Yes	No
Connect to the database	Yes	Yes
Start/stop an existing database	Yes	Yes
Stop/restart database on host	Yes	Yes
Kill a database process on host	No	Yes
Create one or more databases	Yes	Yes
View databases	Yes	Yes
Remove a database from view	Yes	No
Drop a database	Yes	Yes
Create a physical schema design (Database Designer)	Yes	Yes
Modify a physical schema design (Database Designer)	Yes	Yes
Set the restart policy	No	Yes
Roll back database to the Last Good Epoch	No	Yes
Manage clusters (add, replace, remove hosts)	Yes	Yes
Rebalance data across nodes in the database	Yes	Yes
Configure database parameters dynamically	Yes	No
View database activity in relation to physical resource usage	Yes	No
View alerts and messages dynamically	Yes	No
View current database size usage statistics	Yes	No
View database size usage statistics over time	Yes	No
Upload/upgrade a license file	Yes	Yes
Warn users about license violation on login	Yes	Yes
Create, edit, manage, and delete users/user information	Yes	No
Use LDAP to authenticate users with company credentials	Yes	Yes
Manage user access to MC through roles	Yes	No
Map Management Console users to a database	Yes	No
Enable and disable user access to MC and/or the database	Yes	No
Audit user activity on database	Yes	No
Hide features unavailable to a user through roles	Yes	No
Generate new user (non-LDAP) passwords	Yes	No

Management Console Provides some, but Not All of the Functionality Provided By the Administration Tools. MC Also Provides Functionality Not Available in the Administration Tools.

Admin: Administration tools reference

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Administration Tools, or "admintools," uses the open-source vertica-python client to perform operations on the database.

The follow sections explain in detail all the steps you can perform with Administration Tools:

OpenText Analytics Database 26.2.x – Using the administration tools

Admin: Running the administration tools

Syntax

Note

Note

Privileges

Admin: First login as database administrator

Admin: Using the administration tools interface

Note

Enter [return]

OK - cancel - help

Menu dialogs

List dialogs

Form dialogs

Help buttons

Admin: Notes for remote terminal users

Note

Admin: Using administration tools help

In a menu dialog

In a dialog box

Scrolling

Admin: Distributing changes made to the administration tools metadata

Admin: Administration tools and Management Console

See also

Admin: Administration tools reference