About This Guide
This guide describes system and database administration tasks for Greenplum Database. The
guide consists of five sections:
- describes
Greenplum Database architecture and components. It introduces administration topics such as
mirroring, parallel data loading, and Greenplum management and monitoring utilities.
-
contains information about everyday Greenplum Database system administration tasks. Topics
include starting and stopping the server, client front-ends to access the database,
configuring Greenplum, enabling high availability features, backing up and restoring
databases, expanding the system by adding nodes, monitoring the system, and regular
maintenance tasks.
- covers
configuring Greenplum Database authentication, managing roles and privileges, and setting up
Kerberos athentication.
- contains
information about creating and managing databases, schemas, tables and other database
objects. It describes how to view database metadata, insert, update, and delete data in
tables, load data from external files, and run queries in a database.
- describes how
to monitor and manage system performance. It discusses how to define performance in a
parallel environment, how to diagnose performance problems, workload and resource
administration, and performance troubleshooting.
This guide assumes knowledge of Linux/UNIX system administration and database management
systems. Familiarity with structured query language (SQL) is helpful.
Because Greenplum Database is based on PostgreSQL 8.3.23, this guide assumes some familiarity
with PostgreSQL. References to PostgreSQL documentation are provided throughout this guide for features
that are similar to those in Greenplum Database.
This guide provides information for system administrators responsible for administering a
Greenplum Database system.
About the Greenplum Database Documentation Set
The Greenplum Database 4.3 documentation set consists of the following guides.
Greenplum Database documentation set
Guide Name
Description
Greenplum Database Administrator Guide
Describes the Greenplum Database architecture and concepts such
as parallel processing, and system administration and database administration tasks
for Greenplum Database. System administraiton topics include configuring the server,
monitoring system activity, enabling high-availability, backing up and restoring
databases, and expanding the system. Database administration topics include creating
databases and database objects, loading and manipulating data, writing queries, and
monitoring and managing database performance.
Greenplum Database Reference Guide
Reference information for Greenplum Database systems: SQL
commands, system catalogs, environment variables, character set support, datatypes,
the Greenplum MapReduce specification, postGIS extension, server parameters, the
gp_toolkit administrative schema, and SQL 2008 support.
Greenplum Database Utility Guide
Reference information for command-line utilities, client
programs, and Oracle compatibility functions.
Greenplum Database Installation Guide
Information and instructions for installing and initializing a
Greenplum Database system.
Document Conventions
The following conventions are used throughout the Greenplum Database documentation to help
you identify certain types of information.
Text Conventions
Text Conventions
Text Convention
Usage
Examples
bold
Button, menu, tab, page, and field names in GUI applications
Click
Cancel
to exit the page without saving your changes.
italics
New terms where they are defined
Database objects, such as schema, table, or column names
The
master instance
is the
postgres
process that accepts client connections.
Catalog information for Greenplum Database resides in the
pg_catalog
schema.
monospace
File names and path names
Programs and executables
Command names and syntax
Parameter names
Edit the
postgresql.conf
file.
Use gpstart to start Greenplum Database.
monospace italics
Variable information within file paths and file names
Variable information within command syntax
/home/gpadmin/config_fileCOPY
tablename FROM
'filename'
monospace bold
Used to call attention to a particular part of a command,
parameter, or code snippet.
Change the host name, port, and database name in the JDBC
connection
URL:jdbc:postgresql://host:5432/mydb
UPPERCASE
Environment variables
SQL commands
Keyboard keys
Make sure that the Java
/bin
directory is in your
$PATH
.
SELECT * FROM
my_table
;
Press
CTRL+C
to escape.
Command Syntax Conventions
Command Syntax Conventions
Text Convention
Usage
Examples
{ }
Within command syntax, curly braces group related command
options. Do not type the curly braces.
FROM
{
'
filename
' | STDIN
}
[ ]
Within command syntax, square brackets denote optional
arguments. Do not type the brackets.
TRUNCATE
[
TABLE
]
name
...
Within command syntax, an ellipsis denotes repetition of a
command, variable, or option. Do not type the ellipsis.
DROP TABLE
name
[,
...
]
|
Within command syntax, the pipe symbol denotes an "OR"
relationship. Do not type the pipe symbol.
VACUUM [ FULL
|
FREEZE ]
$
system_command
#
root_system_command
=>
gpdb_command
=#
su_gpdb_command
Denotes a command prompt - do not type the prompt symbol.
$ and # denote terminal command prompts.
=> and =# denote Greenplum Database
interactive program command prompts (psql or
gpssh, for example).
$
createdb mydatabase
#
chown gpadmin -R /datadir
=>
SELECT * FROM mytable;
=#
SELECT * FROM pg_database;
Getting Support
For technical support, documentation, release notes, software updates, or for information
about Pivotal products, licensing, and services, go to www.pivotal.io.