Steps to learn Vertica

Anand

Hallo,

I am planning to learn Vertica. Since I am completely new to this area, need steps / direction to learn it. Some background about myself -
I have few years of experience in Oracle pl/sql scripting + application development knowledge in APEX. However, I don't have any knowledge in Big data.
Reason for my learning is to involve in a project in the area of Vertica, especially related to database and generating reports (or scripting).

Please let me know steps needed to learn the same. I assume -

1. read vertica fundamentals (doc??)
2. understand it's database concepts? Probably it is much different w.r.t. Oracle DB?
3. sql scripting. Also need to know how it is different from Oracle pl/sql ?
4. Setup a local copy of Vertican in my system (VM or something?)
5. and so on....

Also please share any links which helps in doing this.
And, yes, my requirement is to get hold of this within a weeks time !

Thanks,
-Anand

Jim_Knicely

@Anand - Welcome to Vertica! I started using Vertca back in 2011 after having many years of experience as an Oracle DBA/Developer.

I'd recommend that you read through the Vertica Concepts Guide first:
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/ConceptsGuide/Other/ConceptsGuide.htm

You can get the Community Edition of Vertica here:
https://www.vertica.com/try/

Standing up a small VM cluster on a laptop is easy with Oracle Virtual Box::
http://vertica.tips/2015/10/29/installing-3-node-vertica-7-2-sandbox-environment-using-windows-and-virtualbox/

Let us know if you need any assistance. We'll be happy to help!

Thanks!

Anand

Hello Jim,

Thanks for the inputs. I did go through the concepts. Things are little clear now.

I am also going through Analyzing Data section
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/AnalyzingData/AnalyzingData.htm?TocPath=Analyzing%20Data|_____0

This gives me some clarity on how vertica is different (w.r.t. analyzing data) compared to traditional row-store database. Which is importat for a person like me who already has Oracle sql experience.

With regarding to setting up a VM in my laptop, I need a small clarification. Any idea approximately how much disk space it consumes (VM, os, vertica, it's db, sample DB, etc., without loading any extra data) ? 5 gb / 10 gb / 50 gb or 100 gb ??

Thanks,
-Anand

Jim_Knicely

@Anand,

I usually create my VMs with at least 20 GB of storage. It's a pain to expand it later. Well, a little bit of a pain That will give you plenty of space to install the sample VMart DB for exploring Vertica's capabilities! You can install Vertica on 1 VM node, but if you want to test HA you'll want at least 3 nodes.

Next you'll want to read through "Getting Started Guide":

See:
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/GettingStartedGuide/Other/GettingStartedGuide.htm

And install the VMart sample DB:

See:
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/GettingStartedGuide/IntroducingVMart/IntroducingVMart.htm

Anand

Ok thank you. BTW, I am not testing HA.

And one more question, what else go in along with learning of vertica? Do we need other tools like, perl, python, java, ODBC, etc. to be needed while learning vertica. Or it's only vertica enough to start with basic understanding. Please clarify.
Thanks.

Jim_Knicely

Hi,

Other tools like perl, python, java, ODBC, etc. are not needed to learn and use Vertica. They can certainly help enhance your experience though. For example, you can create external procedures in Vertica that are written in Python, JAVA, C++ and R. Since you know SQL from your Oracle experience, you're already well prepared to talk to Vertica! You'll want to learn and use vsql (Vertica's CLI) which is similar to Oracle SQL*Plus utility.

See:
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/ConnectingToVertica/vsql/UsingVsql.htm

If you like a GUI, try out Vertica Management Console (MC).

See:
https://my.vertica.com/docs/9.1.x/HTML/index.htm#Authoring/ManagementConsole/UsingManagementConsole.htm

You can also download third party GUIs like DbVisualizer and DBeaver to query your Vertica DB.

See:
https://www.dbvis.com/
https://dbeaver.com/

Note that for those you'll want to grab the latest JDBC client drivers!

See:
https://my.vertica.com/download/vertica/client-drivers/

Anand

Ok. Let me focus primarily on learning Vertica, especially the sql part of it. Appriciate for all the clarifications you have given. It helps me a lot.
Thanks.
Anand