What is Vertica and How Can You Use It?

Trying to find the perfect database for your data? With so many choices available, it may be difficult to figure out which one to use. However, Vertica has plenty to offer, particularly if you’re dealing with big data and have massive datasets ready to go.

What is Vertica?

Vertica is a massive parallel processing or MPP data warehouse platform designed to work with big data. The platform can handle large datasets that may not be suitable for other databases because of their size.

Why Vertica Makes a Good Database

There are several reasons to choose Vertica. It integrates with Hadoop, so it is ideal for more advanced data analytic workflows. Other reasons include:

It’s Cost-Effective

As a self-managed MPP database, Vertica offers scalability and flexibility that others don’t. You can easily use it on commodity hardware, so you’re able to scale the database as needed. This makes Vertica a good choice for those looking to start small and then grow their data warehouse.

Vertica’s Performance is Excellent

Columnar storage options make the platform's speed exceptional, so you’ll find Vertica far more efficient than most other data storage solutions. You won’t need indexes or even materialized views because it’s just that fast.

Advanced Analytic Functions

Vertica has had plenty of time to perfect its SQL dialect over the years. It has expanded its reach, however, to include geospatial analysis, distributed-R, and many other advanced analytical tools you can use to improve your data analytics.

Why Choose Vertica?

Still not sure if Vertica is the best choice for your company’s database needs? It’s always a good idea to inform yourself completely before you leap into a new platform, but Vertica definitely has some excellent features:

Vertica Offers MPP Performance in an On-Premises Environment

Most similar platforms are only available on the Cloud, and you can't access them on a local on-premises machine. However, like Hadoop, Vertica allows you to deploy it on commodity hardware. This allows you to use it in any capacity, even on a local computer. Predictive analytics can be run from anywhere, or right in your own office.

Workflows Include Data Science and Machine Learning 

If your company has a lot of workflows involved with data science or machine learning and AI, Vertica works well. It can query HDFS directly, much like Presto and Spark. It also permits enormous datasets with different data types and lets your data scientist or data analyst use distributed-R to create massive queries. This is all made possible through the Vertica SQL engine and algorithms designed to fit your needs. 

Price Considerations

How much a Vertica license costs will depend on a few things. The length of the term and quantity of raw data storage required will factor into the end price. You need to talk to the company directly about your specific needs to get a proper quote. The Micro Focus Vertica team is always willing to help you find the right option and can work with you to get you the necessary options. 

Using Vertica

Now that you know how Vertica works, you probably want to know more about how you can actually use the platform to improve your data management. There are quite a few things to learn about the platform and how it works on a massive scale, but here are some basics:

Vertica Architecture

Vertica uses four Cs to determine its functions, making it easier to remember just what the platform can do for you. These are:

Column Storage

To boost query performance and speed up data searches, Vertica's analytics platform stores database objects or projections, which comprise table columns. It combines these in one projection sometimes, and since it works like materialized views, query execution speeds up.

Compression

Since Vertica stores columns separately for faster searches, compressing data becomes important. LZO compression is the method that Vertica uses, and it’s optimized to ensure decompressions are almost instantaneous.

Clustering

Clustering refers to how Vertica manages MPP distributed database nodes. Vertica lumps all the nodes in a cluster. This means any of the nodes can handle query execution, resulting in high availability, high performance, better functionality, and fast recovery of specific information.

Continuous Performance

Because it is an open source MPP database, you might expect Vertica to update batches of data from time to time. However, going against the usual methods of doing things, this platform continuously auto loads data. It's uber fast and provides real-time information as you query, allowing for better compute times. 

Conclusion

If you have large amounts of data to store but also need speed and minimal latency, then Vertica is an excellent choice for your company. From faster query executions to more efficient columnar storage, there’s plenty to like about using Vertica as your platform for advanced analytics in the public Cloud.

Integrate.io Can Help

Integrate.io is an ETL platform that you can trust. It makes it simple to load data to Vertica for analysis.

Check out our demo to see how Integrate.io’s data management platform can help you improve your processes.