Backing Up the Database

1. Shut down the database cleanly using the Stop Database command.
2. Back up the catalog and data directories associated with each node definition in the database.

   A node definition is a metadata object that binds a host to a database. A node definition contains a symbolic node name that is used to specify segmentation in projections.

   Segmentation is the horizontal partitioning of a projection so that it can be stored on multiple nodes. The goal is to distribute physical data storage evenly across a database so that all nodes can participate in query execution. See also:

   • Hash Segmentation
   • Range Segmentation
3. Back up the /opt/vertica/config directory. The Administration Tools need that information to work correctly.