Create the Database

1. Run the Administration Tools

   Start up the Administration Tools on one of the database hosts.

   The tools needed for administering a Vertica database are provided in the form of a graphical user interface that allows you to perform various tasks quickly and easily. The tools also provide a convenient way to connect to a database using vsql. Always run the Administration Tools on the Administration Host if possible.

   vsql is the Vertica implementation of psql, a character-based, interactive, front-end that is part of PostgreSQL and used by other database management systems. It allows you to type in SQL statements and see the results. It also provides a number of meta-commands and various shell-like features to facilitate writing scripts and automating a wide variety of tasks.

   $ /opt/vertica/bin/adminTools

   See the Administration Tools Reference for a complete description.

   $ /opt/vertica/bin/adminTools

   If you are using a remote terminal application such as PuTTY or a Cygwin bash shell, see Notes for Remote Terminal Users.

   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 Cygwin Bash Shell running on Windows XP. 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:

   1. In the PuTTY Configuration dialog, create or load a saved session.
   2. Click Category: Window > Appearance.
   3. In the Font settings, click the Change... button.
   4. Select Font: Terminal Font Style: Regular Size: 10
   5. Click OK.
   6. Click Category: Session
   7. Click Save

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

2. Accept the license agreement (once only).
3. Specify the location of your license file (once only). See Managing Your License Key for more information.
4. On the Configuration menu, select Create Database.

   

5. Enter the name of the database and an optional comment.

   

6. Enter the password.

   

   If you do not enter a password, the following dialog appears.

   

   WARNING: If you do not enter a password at this point, the database is permanently set to trust authentication (no password required), in which ALTER USER cannot be used to change the superuser password. Unless the database is for evaluation or academic purposes, Vertica Systems, Inc. strongly recommends that you enter a superuser password.

7. If you entered a password enter the password again.

   

8. Select the hosts to include in the database. The hosts in this list are the ones that were specified at installation time (install_vertica -s).

   

9. Specify the directories in which to store the data and catalog files.

   

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

10. Check the current database definition for correctness.

    

11. This message indicates that you have successfully created a database.

    

    If you get an error message, see:

    • Startup Problems
    • Node Failures