9. Connecting to the Installation

Getting Started : 9. Connecting to the Installation

Share this page

Connecting to the Installation

Network Connections

Ingres Net must be installed to allow a Vector client to access databases on another instance.

Any installation configuration in which the client and server processes do not reside in the same instance or on the same machine must use Ingres Net. With Ingres Net on each Vector instance in your network, you can access databases on your local node and on remote nodes.

Ingres Net is included in the Client component when installing Vector. If the Client component is installed, then Ingres Net is automatically started when you start your Vector instance.

The following components are automatically installed with Ingres Net:

• Data Access Server (DAS)

Provides network access to the DBMS Server for JDBC drivers and .NET Data Providers.

• JDBC Driver

Installing the Client

The client was installed when you installed VectorH on the master node.

If other machines in the environment (such as edge nodes) require connection to the cluster, then the Actian client software must be installed on those machines.

The client software is provided for Linux and Windows. (Note that the .NET driver is provided as a separate install.) See http://esd.actian.com/product/drivers/Client_Runtime.

If the client needs to connect through a firewall then refer to Configuring Firewall Ports in the Evaluation Guide for details about which ports to open.

A client installation acts as an instance (without a database server) with the instance ID CL. As such, a client installation is administered similarly to the database instance and responds to commands such as ingstart, ingstop, ingstatus and can be set up to run as a service. The environment setup script for the client on Linux is called .ingCLsh.

To install on Windows, use the setup program.

To install on Linux, use either the RPM or ingbuild distribution. If using the RPM distribution, root or sudo access is required. If you want to install without root or sudo then use ingbuild. Examples follow.

RPM package:

To install the client with the default instance CL and default location of /opt/Actian/Vector_Client using sudo, issue:

sudo ./client_install.sh

Ingbuild:

To install the client as user actian in a location other than the default, issue a command similar to:

# As user actian

./install.sh ‑express -noroot /home/actian/Vector_Client

After installing the client, the Name Server and Communications Server will be running:

ingstatus

Actian Vector CL Name server (iigcn) - running

Actian Vector CL Net server (iigcc) - 1 running

Actian Vector CL Data Access server (iigcd) - not active

If you need to start the DAS server, run ingstart -iigcd.

(For more information on the ingstart command, see the Command Reference in the User Guide.)

Installing Actian Director

Director is a Java based graphical administration tool for use with Vector databases. Connections are made through the management server, which must be running on the machine where the database instance is running. A client installation on the machine running Director is not required.

If using a Linux machine as the client host, then you will need access to graphical capabilities to use Director. These can be from the default Linux desktop or can be served from tools such as VNC server.

On Windows the installation media is provided as an exe. On Linux the installation media is provided as an RPM.

Once installed, Director can be run by typing the command director.

To connect to an instance, select Connect from the menu and enter the details: On the Connect to Instance dialog, enter the host name where the database instance is running into the "Instance" field, along with the username and password, and then click Connect.

Connecting to a Remote Server

Remote access to an Actian server requires a hostname, an instance ID, a connection protocol, and a username and password.

This information can be predefined in a Server Connection Definition (also known as a virtual node (vnode) in the Connectivity Guide) or can be specified dynamically in the connection string (known as a dynamic vnode).

Dynamic Vnode

The dynamic form is the typical way to connect to a remote server in Vector.

To specify this information dynamically in the connection string, use the format:

@hostname,tcp_ip,instance:[user,password]

For example, to use the Terminal Monitor to connect to the pocdb database of instance VH on host host1, use either of the following examples:

sql @host1,tcp_ip,VH;[actian,actian]::pocdb

sql +user=actian @host1,tcp_ip,VH:pocdb

Linux: Place the entire dynamic vnode specification in single or double quotes.

Static Vnode

For frequently used remote targets, the hostname, instance ID, connection protocol, and username and password can be included in a single Server Connection Definition, known as a static (or predefined) vnode. Then, the vnode name can be used to reference the entire connection string.

For example, the following command will start a Terminal Monitor (sql) session to the database pocdb on the instance defined by the vnode myvnode:

sql myvnode::pocdb

You can define static vnodes using the Actian Network Utility on Windows or the netutil command on Linux.

Connecting Using ODBC

Connections through ODBC use a vnode (as described previously). The vnode can be defined first (static) or defined as part of the ODBC configuration interface (dynamic).

To configure an ODBC connection:

• On Linux, use the iiodbcadmin configuration tool.

• On Windows, use the ODBC Data Source Administrator.

If using 32-bit applications, the 32-bit ODBC driver and 32-bit ODBC administrator tools are required.

For more information, see the Connectivity Guide.

Connecting Using JDBC

The JDBC driver is installed as part of the client installation. It can also be installed separately. The (simplified) JDBC URI format is:

jdbc:ingres://host:port{,port}/db

In the JDBC URL, the port is that of the DAS server, which must be running for connections to be successful. The port can be specified either as a numeric value or by using the instance ID. Thus 27719 and VH7 are equivalent expressions of the default DAS port for instance VH. For an example, see Configuring Firewall Ports in the Evaluation Guide.

For more information, see the Connectivity Guide.

Connecting Using .NET

The .NET driver is supplied as a separate install. Like JDBC, the .NET driver makes connections using the DAS server, which must be running.

Connecting Through the DAS Server

The DAS server allows JDBC or .NET clients to access Vector databases. When connecting through the DAS server, higher throughput can be achieved by connecting to a local DAS server and specifying a remote server as a vnode. In this case, start a DAS server on the local machine, define a vnode for the remote instance, connect to the local DAS server and specify the database as vnodeName::databaseName. Defining the connection in this way routes traffic through the local DAS server to the remote DAS server using a faster data transmission protocol than connecting directly to the remote DAS server.

Connecting from Tableau

Tableau Desktop, from Tableau Software, lets you visualize your data and perform Business Intelligence tasks.

Note: This procedure assumes that an Actian Vector ODBC Driver is installed (a 32-bit Tableau needs a 32-bit driver and a 64-bit Tableau needs a 64-bit ODBC driver).

To connect to Actian Vector from Tableau

1. Start Tableau.

The Connect pane is displayed. If not, select Data, New Data Source.

2. Select Actian Vector under the "To a server" heading.

The Actian Vector connection pane is displayed.

3. Enter the following details:

Virtual node: Name of the virtual node that points to the connection data and authorization data necessary to access the remote Vector instance

If a virtual node has not been defined, you can enter connection details in "dynamic" form as follows:

@host,protocol,port

For example: @sys02,tcp_ip,VH

Database: Name of your database

Use a specific username and password: Select this option.

Username: User name used to connect to the Vector instance

Password: Password associated with the user name.

4. Click OK.

You are connected to the Vector instance.

Using the Terminal Monitor (sql)

The Terminal Monitor is a command line tool for interacting with the database that is useful for using in scripts or when using a graphical interface is not possible.

The behavior of the Terminal Monitor is controlled by command line switches on the sql command (described in the User Guide).

Note: By default, autocommit is turned off in the Terminal Monitor. Your statements are not committed until you issue a COMMIT statement or until you log out of the Terminal Monitor.

To connect to the database using the Terminal Monitor specify the database name and, if the database is running remotely, vnode information (see Connecting to a Remote Server) that defines how to connect to the instance. For example:

Connect to the local database testdb:

sql testdb

Connect to remote database using static vnode:

sql myvnode::pocdb

Connect to remote database using dynamic vnode:

sql @host1,tcp_ip,VH;[actian,actian]::pocdb

Useful command line switches include:

• -uusername - Specifies user name for the session

• ‑Ppassword - Specifies the password for user

• ‑S - Runs silently, only shows results

Useful commands include:

Invokes an editor to modify the contents of the query buffer.

Executes the current contents of the query buffer.

Prints the current contents of the query buffer.

\read file

Reads the contents of file into the query buffer.

Clears the query buffer.

\rt

Includes query timings in the output.

\trim

Removes space padding from the output.

help

Lists objects in the database (see below). To see the syntax of the HELP statement, type HELP HELP.

In addition, the Terminal Monitor can also use redirected input and output with the "<" and ">"characters (for example, sql pocdb < poc.sql). reads the commands in the poc.sql file. The file must contain all terminal monitor commands needed to run the session.

Commands in the Terminal Monitor are separated by ";".

[actian@VectorH-HW1 ~]$ sql pocdb

Actian Vector H Linux Version VH 5.1.0 (a64.lnx/172) login

Thu Oct 25 10:38:38 2018

Enter \g to execute commands, "help help\g" for general help,

"help tm\g" for terminal monitor help, \q to quit

continue

* create table mytab (col1 int);

* insert into mytab values (1);

* \g

Executing . . .

(1 row)

continue

* help \g

Executing . . .

Name Owner Type

mytab actian table

(1 row)

continue

* help table mytab; \g

Executing . . .

Name: mytab

Owner: actian

Created: 25-oct-2018 10:39:05

Location: ii_hdfsdata

…