Setup DBVisualizer with an HP Vertica DB connection

Download your free copy of DBVisualizer from http://www.dbvis.com/download/
I am going to give you the steps to setup vertica connection to DB Visualizer on a windows 7. Our windows might look different. But I suppose the terms used on the GUI would match that on any operating system.
I know this might be a big assumption as I don't work for DBVisualizer and I haven't installed it on any other platform. But it is always worth giving this a try if you are starting to use Vertica and would like to see your tables and write queries on a GUI based environment. I am not a big fan of GUIs. But some times it might become handy. Especially if you are a DBA and you manage quite a lot of databases.

Okay so once you have installed DbVisualizer, open it. 







So first thing you should do is to configure a driver that you can use to connect to Vertica databases. DbVisualizer comes with a lot of common drivers, but then HP's Vertica isn't a very common database technology. It is just getting popular. So you have to download the driver from Vertica's website. Now don't worry too much. If you are a database developer playing with Vertica, HP has allowed a community edition. So you can sign up for a myvertica account from https://my.vertica.com/
You should get your own account and you'll be able to share ideas and ask questions and also download Vertica software. 
Once you are signed up and you log in, you should be able to see something similar to the screenshot below:


So in the screenshot you should be able to see the windows client available for download. Choose your appropriate windows architecture and agree to the license and download the setup and install the software.
You will be able to run vsql from your windows command prompt after the installation. You should also have the JDBC driver that you need to setup DbVisualizer installed in your system. By default the driver file can be found in C:\Program Files\Vertica Systems\JDBC
You will find it here only if you haven't changed the installation directories when you were installing the Vertica client. Now don't ask me where your driver is if you don't remember where you installed it. Well if you don't, then you just have to search for Vertica on your hard driver and you'll end up finding the appropriate JDBC subdirectory somewhere on your hard drive.
The driver file is a jar file. The version I have is named: vertica-jdk5-6.0.1-0.jar
Getting back to your DBVisualizer window; After you open up Driver Manager as seen in the screen shot above, you should be able to see a window with the following buttons:

Yes that 'Create a new driver' button is what you need. You have to create a new driver and associate the above mentioned jar file to that driver. On pressing that button, you should get a window with the following fields (my screenshot has everything filled in it but you will have them empty, you have to follow the tooltip button and locate your jar file and choose a name for the driver for everything to pop up like what is given in the screenshot below):
 
 Notice that path of the jar file is not the standard path that I mentioned earlier. Don't worry about it, I just had a copy there. Sorry if I confused you.
The driver class field would be filled in automatically as soon as you open the jar file.
URL format would be jdbc:
Give a name for your Vertica driver. In my humble opinion 'Vertica' seems like a very sensible name for this purpose.

After installation things should look like what is given below:


You have actually done the most important bit. Now you just have like 5% of the work left to do. You have a driver now, you just need a connection. So you can safely close this window and you'll be left in the first window that you got when you opened DbVisualizer.
Now click the button in the screenshot below:


That should give you options to use the wizard or do it manually.

Choose the No Wizard option. Trust me you are the best wizard. Especially when the stuff to do is so trivial.




All the data that I have filled are samples. Give appropriate host, port and database name in the Database URL field. Choose the Driver that you created earlier. And name the connection anything that you like.
The most important bit after all that is your username and password. That is it. press connect or what ever button you are left with and you are good to go.
Congratulations! You have setup your DbVisualizer to connect with your Vertica database.

I hope it helps. Do let me know if I have missed out something here.

Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing this information and Very good looking blog on

    123.hp.com/setup

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