Greenplum Database 4.3 Release Notes

Rev: A06

Updated: March, 2015

Parent topic: Pivotal Greenplum Database Release Notes

Welcome to Pivotal Greenplum Database 4.3

Greenplum Database is a massively parallel processing (MPP) database server that supports next generation data warehousing and large-scale analytics processing. By automatically partitioning data and running parallel queries, it allows a cluster of servers to operate as a single database supercomputer performing tens or hundreds times faster than a traditional database. It supports SQL, MapReduce parallel processing, and data volumes ranging from hundreds of gigabytes, to hundreds of terabytes.

Note: This document contains pertinent release information about Greenplum Database 4.3. For previous versions of the release notes for Greenplum Database, go to Support Zone.

About Greenplum Database 4.3

Greenplum Database 4.3 is a major release that introduces a number of significant new features, as well as performance and stability enhancements. Please refer to the following sections for more information about this release.

Product Enhancements

Greenplum Database 4.3 includes enhancements in these areas:

Greenplum Database High Availability

The Greenplum Database master mirroring feature has been enhanced. With master mirroring, a Greenplum Database backup master or standby master serves as a warm standby if the primary master becomes nonoperational.

  • A Greenplum Database standby master is created while Greenplum Database is online. Greenplum Database does not need to be offline.
  • Reboot of the standby master is not required when activating to the standby master to become primary master.
  • Faster switching when Greenplum Database changes from the current active master to the standby master.

The following changes have been made to Greenplum Database:

  • The Greenplum Database utilities gpinitstandby and gpactivatestandby have been changed.
  • Greenplum Database administrative tables and views have been changed

For information about the changes to Greenplum Database utilities, and views and tables, see Changed and Deprecated Features.

For information about the new server configuration parameters, see Server Configuration Parameters

For information about high availability and master mirroring, see the Greenplum Database System Administration Guide.

For information about Greenplum Database utilities, see the Greenplum Database Utility Guide.

Append-Optimized Tables

Append-optimized tables are similar to append-only tables and also allow UPDATE and DELETE operations on the table data. When migrating Greenplum Database from 4.2.x.x to 4.3, append-only tables are migrated to append-optimized tables.

Note: Migration of database with a large number of append-only tables might require a significant amount of time.

Append-optimized tables works best with denormalized fact tables in a data warehouse environment, where the data is static after it is loaded. Denormalized fact tables are typically the largest tables in the system. Fact tables are usually loaded in batches and accessed by read-only queries. Moving large fact tables to an append-only storage model eliminates the storage overhead of the per-row update visibility information, saving about 20 bytes per row.

Important: Append-optimized tables cannot be used with the following functionality:
  • Transactions with serializable isolation levels
  • Updatable cursors

With append-optimized tables, you use the VACUUM command to reclaim the storage capacity from table data that was deleted or updated.

For information about the changes to the utilities, and views and tables, see Changed and Deprecated Features.

For information about the new server configuration parameters, see Server Configuration Parameters

For information about creating append-optimized tables, see the CREATE TABLE command in the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

For information about append-optimized tables and using VACUUM command to maintain append-optimized tables, see the Greenplum Database Database Administrator Guide and the Greenplum Database System Administrator Guide.

Workfile Disk Spill Space Information

In Greenplum Database 4.3, gp_workfile_* views in the gp_toolkit administrative schema contain show information about all the queries that are currently using disk spill space.

Previously in 4.2.x.x releases, you created the views by running SQL scripts.

For information about the gp_toolkit administrative views, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

Changed and Deprecated Features

Changed features

  • Append-only tables are converted to append-optimized tables. Append-optimized tables are similar to append-only tables and also support UPDATE and DELETE operations. For information about append-optimized tables, see Append-Optimized Tables.

    The CREATE TABLE command has been updated to create append-optimized tables when the WITH clause contains the storage parameter APPENDONLY=TRUE.

    The VACUUM command has been updated to maintain append-optimized tables.

    The Greenplum Database utilities gpcrondump and gpdbrestore support append-optimized tables when performing incremental backup and restore operations. For information about incremental backup and restore, see the Greenplum Database System Administrator Guide. For information about gpcrondump and gpdbrestore, see the Greenplum Database Utility Guide.

    The Greenplum Database system table pg_appendonly has been updated.

    gp_toolkit schema has been updated with the following diagnostic functions that you can use to investigate the state of append-optimized tables __gp_aoseg_name('table_name') __gp_aoseg_history(oid) __gp_aocsseg(oid) __gp_aocsseg_history(oid) __gp_aovisimap(oid) __gp_aovisimap_hidden_info(oid) __gp_aovisimap_entry(oid)

    For information about the CREATE TABLE and VACUUM commands, system tables, and the gp_toolkit schema, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

  • Greenplum Database master mirroring has been enhanced to support easier creation of the Greenplum Database standby master and activation of the standby master to be come the primary master. For information about the master mirroring enhancements, see Greenplum Database High Availability.

    To support the enhanced functionality, changes have been made to the Greenplum Database utilities gpinitstandby and gpactivatestandby. Changes have also been made to Greenplum Database tables and views.

  • For the Greenplum Database utility gpinitstandby these options have been removed:

    -L (leave database stopped)

    -M fast (fast shutdown - rollback)

  • For the gpinitstandby utility, these options have been added:

    -P port (specify a port for the standby master)

    -F standby_filespaces (specify file spaces for the standby master)

  • For the gpactivatestandy utility, this option has been removed:

    -c new_standby_master_hostname

  • These changes have been made to Greenplum Database administrative tables and views:

    The gp_master_mirroring table has been removed and has been replaced by the new view pg_stat_replication.

    The pg_stat_activity view has been modified.

    For information about the utilities, see the Greenplum Database Utility Guide. For information about the tables and views, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

  • In releases prior to 4.3, running the Greenplum Database utility gpinitstandby with the option -n synchronized files such as pg_hba.conf and postgresql.conf in addition to the data on the Greenplum Database master segment. For 4.3 and later releases, the files such as pg_hba.conf and postgresql.conf are not synchronized.

    The files are not synchronized because of the enhanced flexibility of Greenplum Database master mirroring and high availability in Greenplum Database 4.3.

    For information about master mirroring and high availability, see the Greenplum Database System Administration Guide. For information about Greenplum Database utilities, see the Greenplum Database Utility Guide.

  • Inserting data into a partitioned table can only be done at parent partitioned table created with the CREATE TABLE command.

    When creating a partitioned table, Greenplum Database creates additional tables to manage the partitioning of data in a partitioned table. Using the INSERT command to insert data into tables created by Greenplum Database for use by a partitioned table is not allowed.

  • The Greenplum Database gp_workfile_* views have been added to the Greenplum Database administrative schema gp_toolkit. For information about the gp_workfile_* views, see Workfile Disk Spill Space Information.

    For information about the gp_toolkit administrative views, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

  • For Greenplum Database 4.3, the file naming convention for Greenplum Database extension packages have changed. For information about the supported packages and the package naming convention, see Greenplum Database Extensions Compatibility.

Server Configuration Parameters

New Parameters

For information about server configuration parameters, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

New Parameters

Master mirroring server configuration parameters

Table 1. New Server Configuration Parameters in 4.3 for Master Mirroring
Parameter Name Value

Range

 Default

Value

 Description Set

Classifications
keep_wal_segments 0 - INT_MAX 5 For Greenplum Database master mirroring, sets the maximum number of processed WAL segment files that are saved by the by the active Greenplum Database master if a checkpoint operation occurs.

The segment files are used to synchronize the active master on the standby master.

master

system

reload

superuser
repl_catchup_within_range 0 - 64 1 For Greenplum Database master mirroring, controls updates to the active master. If the number of WAL segment files that have not been processed by the walsender exceeds this value, Greenplum Database updates the active master.

If the number of segment files does not exceed the value, Greenplum Database blocks updates to the to allow the walsender process the files. If all WAL segments have been processed, the active master is updated.

master

system

reload

superuser
replication_timeout 0 - INT_MAX 60000 ms (60 seconds) For Greenplum Database master mirroring, sets the maximum time in milliseconds that the walsender process on the active master waits for a status message from the walreceiver process on the standby master. If a message is not received, the walsender logs an error message.

The wal_receiver_status_interval controls the interval between walreceiver status messages.

master

system

reload

superuser
wal_receiver_status_interval integer 0- INT_MAX/1000 10 sec For Greenplum Database master mirroring, sets the interval in seconds between walreceiver process status messages that are sent to the active master. Under heavy loads, the time might be longer.

The value of replication_timeout controls the time that the walsender process waits for a walreceiver message.

 master

system

reload

superuser

Append-optimized server configuration parameters.

Table 2. New Server Configuration Parameters in 4.3 for Append-Optimized Tables
Parameter Name Value

Range

 Default

Value

 Description Set

Classifications
gp_appendonly_compaction Boolean on Enables compacting segment files during VACUUM commands. When disabled, VACUUM only truncates the segment files to the EOF value, as is the behavior of append-only tables in 4.2.x. The administrator might want to disable compaction in high I/O load situations or low space situations. master

session

reload
gp_appendonly_compaction_threshold integer (%) 10 Sets the threshold ratio (as a percentage) of hidden tuples to allow compaction of the segment file. If the ratio of hidden tuples in a segment file on a segment is less than this threshold, the segment file is not compacted on a VACUUM FULL call, and a LOG message is issued. master

session

reload

Deprecated Features

These features have been deprecated for Greenplum Database master mirroring enhancements.

  • These Greenplum Database utility gpinitstandby options have been removed.

    -L (leave database stopped)

    -M fast (fast shutdown - rollback)

  • The Greenplum Database utilitygpactivatestandy option -c new_standby_master_hostname has been removed
  • The Greenplum Database system table gp_master_mirroring has been removed. The table is replaced by the new administrative view pg_stat_replication.

Solaris is no longer a supported operating system.

For information about Greenplum Database tables and views, see the Greenplum Database Reference Guide.

For information about Greenplum Database utilities, see the Greenplum Database Utility Guide.

For information about the master mirroring enhancements, see Greenplum Database High Availability.

Supported Platforms

Greenplum Database 4.3 runs on the following platforms:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 64-bit 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.4
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 64-bit 10 SP4, 11 SP1
  • Oracle Unbreakable Linux 64-bit 5.5
  • CentOS 64-bit 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6.1, and 6.2
Note: Starting with Greenplum Database 4.3.0.0, Solaris is no longer a supported operating system. Please send any questions or comments about the changes to supported platforms to [email protected].

Greenplum Database 4.3 supports Data Domain Boost on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Greenplum Database 4.3 supports Data Domain Boost SDK version 2.4.2.2 with DDOS 5.0.1.0, 5.1 and 5.2.

Greenplum Database support on DCA:
  • Greenplum Database 4.3.x, all versions, is supported on DCA V2, and requires DCA software version 2.1.0.0 or greater due to known DCA software issues in older DCA software versions.
  • Greenplum Database 4.3.x, all versions, is supported on DCA V1, and requires DCA software version 1.2.2.2 or greater due to known DCA software issues in older DCA software versions.
Note: For the most recent server platform support information for Greenplum Database, check the EMC Support Matrix (ESM).

To access the ESM, go to the Support Zone home page and click the link E-Lab Interoperability Navigator.

In the E-Lab Interoperability Navigator, search for Greenplum Database and add one or more search results to the search cart. Click Get Results to display links to EMC Support Statements.

Resolved Issues in Greenplum Database 4.3

The table below lists issues that are now resolved in Greenplum Database 4.3.

For issues resolved in prior releases, refer to the corresponding release notes available from Support Zone.

Table 3. Resolved Issues in 4.3
Issue Number Category Description
21522 Backup and Restore The Greenplum Database utility pg_dump printed information-level messages (messages with the label [INFO]) to stderr that were not printed in previous releases. These messages were printed even when pg_dump completes without errors.

Known Issues in Greenplum Database 4.3

This section lists the known issues in Greenplum Database 4.3. A workaround is provided where applicable.

For known issues discovered in previous releases, including patch releases to Greenplum Database 4.2.x, 4.1 or 4.0.x, see the corresponding release notes, available from Support Zone:

Table 4. All Known Issues in 4.3
Issue Category Description
22301 Replication: Master Mirroring DCA customers who want to use Greenplum Database 4.3 cannot use dca_setup. Instead, field personnel must initialize Greenplum Database 4.3 manually. For complete steps, refer to the latest version of the Greenplum Database 4.3 Installation Guide available on the EMC Online Support site: http://support.emc.com.
21917 Replication: Segment Mirroring In some rare cases after the Greenplum Database utility gprecoverseg was run, some append-optimized tables and a persistent table were detected having less data on a mirror segment corresponding to a primary segment.
20453 Query Planner For SQL queries of either of the following forms:
SELECT columns FROM table WHERE table.column NOT IN subquery;
SELECT columns FROM table WHERE table.column = ALL subquery;
tuples that satisfy both of the following conditions are not included in the result set:
  • table.column is NULL.
  • subquery returns the empty result.
21724 Query Planner Greenplum Database executes an SQL query in two stages if a scalar subquery is involved. The output of the first stage plan is fed into the second stage plan as a external parameter. If the first stage plan generates zero tuples and directly contributes to the output of the second stage plan, incorrect results might be returned.
21838 Backup and Restore When restoring sets of tables with the Greenplum Database utility gpdbrestore, the table schemas must be defined in the database. If a table’s schema is not defined in the database, the table is not restored. When performing a full restore, the database schemas are created when the tables are restored.

Workaround: Before restoring a set of tables, create the schemas for the tables in the database.

21129 DDL and Utility Statements SSL is only supported on the master host. It is not supported on segment hosts.
20822 Backup and Restore Special characters such as !, $, #, and @ cannot be used in the password for the Data Domain Boost user when specifying the Data Domain Boost credentials with the gpcrondump options --ddboost-host and --ddboost-user.
18247 DDL and Utility Statements TRUNCATE command does not remove rows from a sub-table of a partitioned table. If you specify a sub-table of a partitioned table with the TRUNCATE command, the command does not remove rows from the sub-table and its child tables.

Workaround: Use the ALTER TABLE command with the TRUNCATE PARTITION clause to remove rows from the sub-table and its child tables.
19788 Replication: Resync, Transaction Management In some rare circumstances, performing a full recovery with gprecoverseg fails due to inconsistent LSN.

Workaround: Stop and restart the database. Then perform a full recovery with gprecoverseg.
19772 Interconnect After installing Greenplum Database 4.2.4, downgrading the Greenplum Database installation to a previous minor version causes a crash.

Workaround: Before downgrading Greenplum Database 4.2.4 to a previous minor version, change the value for the Greenplum Database parameter gp_interconnect_type from UDPIFC to a supported value such as UDP. The parameter value UDPIFC was introduced in Greenplum Database 4.2.4 and is not valid in previous versions.

19705 Loaders: gpload gpload fails on Windows XP with Python 2.6.

Workaround: Install Python 2.5 on the system where gpload is installed.
19493 19464 19426 Backup and Restore The gpcrondump and gpdbrestore utilities do not handle errors returned by DD Boost or Data Domain correctly.
These are two examples:
  • If invalid Data Domain credentials are specified when setting the Data Domain Boost credentials with the gpcrondump utility, the error message does not indicate that invalid credentials were specified.
  • Restoring a Greenplum database from a Data Domain system with gpdbrestore and the --ddboost option indicates success even though segment failures occured during the restore.

Workaround: The errors are logged in the master and segment server backup or restore status and report files. Scan the status and report files to check for error messages.
19278 Backup and Restore When performing a selective restore of a partitioned table from a full backup with gpdbrestore, the data from leaf partitions are not restored.

Workaround: When doing a selective restore from a full backup, specify the individual leaf partitions of the partitioned tables that are being restored. Alternatively, perform a full backup, not a selective backup.
16129 Management Scripts Suite gpkill does not run on the Solaris platform.

The gpkill utility is using an internal tool called “glider” to introspect processes and glean/archive some relevant information before actually killing processes. In some cases, our invocation of this tool fails to yield the desired introspective information.
15692

17192

 Backup and Restore Greenplum Database’s implementation of RSA lock box for Data Domain Boost changes backup and restore requirements for customers running SUSE.

The current implementation of the RSA lock box for Data Domain Boost login credential encryption only supports customers running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Workaround: If you run Greenplum Database on SUSE, use NFS as your backup solution. See the Greenplum Database System Administrator Guide for information on setting up a NFS backup.
18850 Backup and Restore Data Domain Boost credentials cannot be set up in some environments due to the absence of certain libraries (for example, libstdc++) expected to reside on the platform.

Workaround: Install the missing libraries manually on the system.
18851 Backup and Restore When performing a data-only restore of a particular table, it is possible to introduce data into Greenplum Database that contradicts the distribution policy of that table. In such cases, subsequent queries may return unexpected and incorrect results. To avoid this scenario, we suggest you carefully consider the table schema when performing a restore.
18774 Loaders External web tables that use IPv6 addresses must include a port number.
18713 Catalog and Metadata Drop language plpgsql cascade results in a loss of gp_toolkit functionality.

Workaround: Reinstall gp_toolkit.

18710 Management Scripts Suite Greenplum Management utilities cannot parse IPv6 IP addresses.

Workaround: Always specify IPv6 hostnames rather than IP addresses
18703 Loaders The bytenum field (byte offset in the load file where the error occurred) in the error log when using gpfdist with data in text format errors is not populated, making it difficult to find the location of an error in the source file.
12468 Management Scripts Suite gpexpand --rollback fails if an error occurs during expansion such that it leaves the database down

gpstart also fails as it detects that expansion is in progress and suggests to run gpexpand --rollback which will not work because the database is down.

Workaround: Run gpstart -m to start the master and then run rollback,

18785 Loaders Running gpload with the --ssl option and the relative path of the source file results in an error that states the source file is missing.

Workaround: Provide the full path in the yaml file or add the loaded data file to the certificate folder.
18414 Loaders Unable to define external tables with fixed width format and empty line delimiter when file size is larger than gpfdist chunk (by default, 32K).
14640 Backup and Restore gpdbrestore outputting incorrect non-zero error message.

When performing single table restore, gpdbrestore gives warning messages about non-zero tables however prints out zero rows.
17285 Backup and Restore NFS backup with gpcrondump -c can fail.

In circumstances where you haven't backed up to a local disk before, backups to NFS using gpcrondump with the -c option can fail. On fresh systems where a backup has not been previously invoked there are no dump files to cleanup and the -c flag will have no effect.

Workaround: Do not run gpcrondump with the -c option the first time a backup is invoked from a system.
17837 Upgrade/ Downgrade Major version upgrades internally depend on the gp_toolkit system schema. The alteration or absence of this schema may cause upgrades to error out during preliminary checks.

Workaround: To enable the upgrade process to proceed, you need to reinstall the gp_toolkit schema in all affected databases by applying the SQL file found here: $GPHOME/share/postgresql/gp_toolkit.sql.
17513 Management Scripts Suite Running more than one gpfilespace command concurrently with itself to move either temporary files (--movetempfilespace) or transaction files (--movetransfilespace) to a new filespace can in some circumstances cause OID inconsistencies.

Workaround: Do not run more than one gpfilespace command concurrently with itself. If an OID inconsistency is introduced gpfilespace --movetempfilespace or gpfilespace --movetransfilespace can be used to revert to the default filespace.
17780 DDL/DML: Partitioning ALTER TABLE ADD PARTITION inheritance issue

When performing an ALTER TABLE ADD PARTITION operation, the resulting parts may not correctly inherit the storage properties of the parent table in cases such as adding a default partition or more complex subpartitioning. This issue can be avoided by explicitly dictating the storage properties during the ADD PARTITION invocation. For leaf partitions that are already afflicted, the issue can be rectified through use of EXCHANGE PARTITION.
17795 Management Scripts Suite Under some circumstances, gppkg on SUSE is unable to correctly interpret error messages returned by rpm.

On SUSE, gppkg is unable to operate correctly under circumstances that require a non-trivial interpretation of underlying rpm commands. This includes scenarios that result from overlapping packages, partial installs, and partial uninstalls.
17604 Security A Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.x security configuration file limits the number of processes that can run on gpadmin.

RHEL 6.x contains a security file (/etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf) that limits available processes running on gpadmin to 1064.

Workaround: Remove this file or increase the processes to 131072.
17415 Installer When you run gppkg -q -info<some gppkg>, the system shows the GPDB version as main build dev.
17334 Management Scripts Suite You may see warning messages that interfere with the operation of management scripts when logging in.

Greenplum recommends that you edit the /etc/motd file and add the warning message to it. This will send the messages to are redirected to stdout and not stderr. You must encode these warning messages in UTF-8 format.
17221 Resource Management Resource queue deadlocks may be encountered if a cursor is associated with a query invoking a function within another function.
17113 Management Scripts Suite Filespaces are inconsistent when the Greenplum database is down.

Filespaces become inconsistent in case of a network failure. Greenplum recommends that processes such as moving a filespace be done in an environment with an uninterrupted power supply.
17189 Loaders: gpfdist gpfdistshows the error “Address already in use” after successfully binding to socket IPv6.

Greenplum supports IPv4 and IPv6. However, gpfdist fails to bind to socket IPv4, and shows the message “Address already in use”, but binds successfully to socket IPv6.

16278 Management Scripts Suite gpkill shows that it failed to kill the gpload process, but in fact the process was successfully aborted with all the data loaded correctly.
16269 Management Scripts Suite gpkill should attempt to kill each given pid.

gpkill accepts the list of pids but only shows that one of the processes may not be killed.
16519 Backup and Restore Limited data restore functionality and/or restore performance issues can occur when restoring tables from a full database backup where the default backup directory was not used.

In order to restore from backup files not located in the default directory you can use the -R to point to another host and directory. This is not possible however, if you want to point to a different directory on the same host (NFS for example).

Workaround: Define a symbolic link from the default dump directory to the directory used for backup, as shown in the following example:
  1. Perform a full Database Backup to a specific NFS directory:
       $ gpcrondump -x <db_name> -z -u /backup/DCA-93 -a
  2. Create a file listing the segment servers:
       $ vi /home/gpadmin/segments
   sdw1
   sdw2
   sdw3
   …
  3. Remove the relevant date folder from db_dumps directories on the master and segments:
       $ rm -r /data/master/gpseg-1/db_dumps/20120619
   $ gpssh -f segments 'rm -r /data1/primary/gpseg*/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -f segments 'rm -r /data2/primary/gpseg*/db_dumps/20120619'
  4. Create a symbolic link between the master and segment directories and the directory to which you backed up in step 1. Only the master and sdw1 was shown here, write a script for the remaining segments:
       $ ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data/master/gpseg-1/db_dumps/20120619
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data1/primary/gpseg0/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data1/primary/gpseg1/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data1/primary/gpseg2/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data2/primary/gpseg3/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data2/primary/gpseg4/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -h sdw1 'ln -s /backup/DCA-93/db_dumps/20120619/data2/primary/gpseg5/db_dumps/20120619'
  5. Restore from backup files:
       $ gpdbrestore -t 20120619061835 -T <schema.table> -a
  6. Remove the symbolic links:
       $ rrm -r /data/master/gpseg-1/db_dumps/20120619
   $ gpssh -f segments 'rm -r /data1/primary/gpseg*/db_dumps/20120619'
   $ gpssh -f segments 'rm -r /data2/primary/gpseg*/db_dumps/20120619'
16267 15954 Management Scripts Suite gpkill cannot kill processes that are deemed STUCK.

Workaround: Kill the STUCK processes using OS kill.
16067 Management Scripts Suite gpkill does not validate the user input for password_hash_algorithm

The current behavior shows a success message for any input value. However, the server configuration parameter value is not updated if the input is invalid. When the user tries to set the value for a session from within psql, it fails with the appropriate error message.
16064 Backup and Restore Restoring a compressed dump with the --ddboost option displays incorrect dump parameter information.

When using gpdbrestore --ddboost to restore a compressed dump, the restore parameters incorrectly show “Restore compressed dump = Off”. This error occurs even if gpdbrestore passes the --gp-c option to use gunzip for in-line de-compression.
15899 Backup and Restore When running gpdbrestore with the list (-L) option, external tables do not appear; this has no functional impact on the restore job.

Upgrading to Greenplum Database 4.3

The upgrade path supported for this release is Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x to Greenplum Database 4.3. The minimum recommended upgrade path for this release is from Greenplum Database version 4.2.x.x. If you have an earlier major version of the database, you must first upgrade to version 4.2.x.x.

For detailed upgrade procedures and information, see the following sections:

If you are utilizing Data Domain Boost, you have to re-enter your DD Boost credentials after upgrading from Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x to 4.3 as follows:

gpcrondump --ddboost-host ddboost_hostname --ddboost-user ddboost_user
Note: If you do not reenter your login credentials after an upgrade, your backup will never start because the Greenplum Database cannot connect to the Data Domain system. You will receive an error advising you to check your login credentials.

Upgrading from 4.2.x.x to 4.3

This section describes how you can upgrade from Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x or later to Greenplum Database 4.3. For users running versions prior to 4.2.x.x of Greenplum Database, see the following:

Planning Your Upgrade

Before you begin your upgrade, make sure the master and all segments (data directories and filespace) have at least 2GB of free space.

Prior to upgrading your database, Pivotal recommends that you run a pre-upgrade check to verify your database is healthy.

You can perform a pre-upgrade check by executing the gpmigrator (_mirror) utility with the --check-only option.

For example: 

source $new_gphome/greenplum_path.sh; 

gpmigrator_mirror --check-only $old_gphome $new_gphome
Note: Performing a pre-upgrade check of your database with the gpmigrator (_mirror) utility should done during a database maintenance period. When the utility checks the database catalog, users cannot access the database.
Migrating a Greenplum Database That Contains AO Tables

The migration process updates AO tables that are in a Greenplum Database to UAO tables. For a database that contains a large number of AO tables, the conversion to UAO tables might take a considerable amount of time.

Upgrade Procedure

This section divides the upgrade into the following phases: pre-upgrade preparation, software installation, upgrade execution, and post-upgrade tasks.

We have also provided you with an Upgrade Checklist that summarizes this procedure.

Important: Carefully evaluate each section and perform all required and conditional steps. Failing to perform any of these steps can result in an aborted upgrade, placing your system in an unusable or even unrecoverable state.
Pre-Upgrade Preparation (on your 4.2.x system)

Perform these steps on your current 4.2.x Greenplum Database system. This procedure is performed from your Greenplum master host and should be executed by the Greenplum superuser (gpadmin).

  1. Log in to the Greenplum Database master as the gpadmin user:
    $ su - gpadmin
  2. (optional) Vacuum all databases prior to upgrade. For example:
    $ vacuumdb database_name
  3. (optional) Clean out old server log files from your master and segment data directories. For example, to remove log files from 2011 from your segment hosts:
    $ gpssh -f seg_host_file -e 'rm /gpdata/*/gp*/pg_log/gpdb-2011-*.csv'
    Note: Running Vacuum and cleaning out old logs files is not required, but it will reduce the size of Greenplum Database files to be backed up and migrated.
  4. Run gpstate to check for failed segments.
    $ gpstate
  5. If you have failed segments, you must recover them using gprecoverseg before you can upgrade.
    $ gprecoverseg
    Note: It might be necessary to restart the database if the preferred role does not match the current role; for example, if a primary segment is acting as a mirror segment or a mirror segment is acting as a primary segment.
  6. Copy or preserve any additional folders or files (such as backup folders) that you have added in the Greenplum data directories or $GPHOME directory. Only files or folders strictly related to Greenplum Database operations are preserved by the migration utility.
Install the Greenplum Database 4.3 Software Binaries
  1. Download or copy the installer file to the Greenplum Database master host.
  2. Unzip the installer file. For example:
    # unzip greenplum-db-4.3-PLATFORM.zip
  3. Launch the installer using bash. For example:
    # /bin/bash greenplum-db-4.3-PLATFORM.bin
  4. The installer will prompt you to accept the Greenplum Database license agreement. Type yes to accept the license agreement.
  5. The installer will prompt you to provide an installation path. Press ENTER to accept the default install path (for example: /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3), or enter an absolute path to an install location. You must have write permissions to the location you specify.
  6. The installer installs the Greenplum Database software and creates a greenplum-db symbolic link one directory level above your version-specific Greenplum installation directory. The symbolic link is used to facilitate patch maintenance and upgrades between versions. The installed location is referred to as $GPHOME.
  7. Source the path file from your new 4.3 installation. For example:
    $ source /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3/greenplum_path.sh
  8. Run the gpseginstall utility to install the 4.3 binaries on all the segment hosts specified in the hostfile. For example:
    $ gpseginstall -f hostfile
Upgrade Execution

During upgrade, all client connections to the master will be locked out. Inform all database users of the upgrade and lockout time frame. From this point onward, users should not be allowed on the system until the upgrade is complete.

  1. Source the path file from your old 4.2.x.x installation. For example:
    $ source /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.2.6.3/greenplum_path.sh
  2. (optional but strongly recommended) Back up all databases in your Greenplum Database system using gpcrondump (or zfs snapshots on Solaris systems). See the Greenplum Database Administrator Guide for more information on how to do backups using gpcrondump. Make sure to secure your backup files in a location outside of your Greenplum data directories.
  3. If your system has a standby master host configured, remove the standby master from your system configuration. For example:
    $ gpinitstandby -r
  4. Perform a clean shutdown of your current Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x system. For example:
    $ gpstop
  5. Source the path file from your new 4.3 installation. For example:
    $ source /usr/home/greenplum-db-4.3/greenplum_path.sh
  6. Update the Greenplum Database environment so it is referencing your new 4.3 installation.
    1. For example, update the greenplum-db symbolic link on the master and standby master to point to the new 4.3 installation directory. For example (as root):
      # rm -rf /usr/local/greenplum-db

# ln -s /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3 /usr/local/greenplum-db

# chown -R gpadmin /usr/local/greenplum-db
    2. Using gpssh, also update the greenplum-db symbolic link on all of your segment hosts. For example (as root):
      # gpssh -f segment_hosts_file

=> rm -rf /usr/local/greenplum-db

=> ln -s /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3 /usr/local/greenplum-db

=> chown -R gpadmin /usr/local/greenplum-db

=> exit
  7. (optional but recommended) Prior to running the migration, perform a pre-upgrade check to verify that your database is healthy by executing the 4.3 version of the gpmigrator utility with the --check-only option. For example: 
    # gpmigrator_mirror --check-only 
   /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.2.6.3 
   /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3
  8. As gpadmin, run the 4.3 version of the migration utility specifying your old and new GPHOME locations. If your system has mirrors, use gpmigrator_mirror. If your system does not have mirrors, use gpmigrator. For example on a system with mirrors:
    $ su - gpadmin
$ gpmigrator_mirror /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.2.6.3 /usr/local/greenplum-db-4.3
    Note: If the migration does not complete successfully, contact Customer Support (see Troubleshooting a Failed Upgrade).
  9. The migration can take a while to complete. After the migration utility has completed successfully, the Greenplum Database 4.3 system will be running and accepting connections.
    Note: After the migration utility has completed, the resynchronization of the mirror segments with the primary segments continues. Even though the system is running, the mirrors are not active until the resynchronization is complete.
Post-Upgrade (on your 4.3 system)
  1. If your system had a standby master host configured, reinitialize your standby master using gpinitstandby:
    $ gpinitstandby -s standby_hostname
  2. If your system uses external tables with gpfdist, stop all gpfdist processes on your ETL servers and reinstall gpfdist using the compatible Greenplum Database 4.3 Load Tools package. Application Packages are available at the EMC Download Center.
  3. Rebuild any custom modules against your 4.3 installation (for example, any shared library files for user-defined functions in $GPHOME/lib).
  4. Use the Greenplum Database gppkg utility to install Greenplum Database extensions. If you were previously using any Greenplum Database extensions such as pgcrypto, PL/R, PL/Java, PL/Perl, and PostGIS, download the corresponding packages from the EMC Download Center, and install using this new utility. See the Greenplum Database Administrator Guide 4.3 for usage details.
  5. If you want to utilize the Greenplum Command Center management tool, install the latest Command Center Console and update your environment variable to point to the latest Command Center binaries (source the gpperfmon_path.sh file from your new installation).
    Note: The Greenplum Command Center management tool replaces Greenplum Performance Monitor.

    Command Center Console packages are available from the EMC Download Center.

  6. Inform all database users of the completed upgrade. Tell users to update their environment to source the Greenplum Database 4.3 installation (if necessary).
Upgrade Checklist

This checklist provides a quick overview of all the steps required for an upgrade from 4.2.x.x to 4.3. Detailed upgrade instructions are provided in the Upgrade Procedure section.

Pre-Upgrade Preparation (on your current system)

* 4.2.x.x system is up and available
Log in to your master host as the gpadmin user (your Greenplum superuser).
(Optional) Run VACUUM on all databases,
(Optional) Remove old server log files from pg_log in your master and segment data directories.
Check for and recover any failed segments (gpstate, gprecoverseg).
Copy or preserve any additional folders or files (such as backup folders).
Install the Greenplum Database 4.3 binaries on all Greenplum hosts.
Inform all database users of the upgrade and lockout time frame.
Upgrade Execution
* The system will be locked down to all user activity during the upgrade process
Backup your current databases.
Remove the standby master (gpinitstandby -r).
Do a clean shutdown of your current system (gpstop).
Update your environment to source the new Greenplum Database 4.3 installation.
Run the upgrade utility (gpmigrator_mirror if you have mirrors, gpmigrator if you do not).
After the upgrade process finishes successfully, your 4.3 system will be up and running.
Post-Upgrade (on your 4.3 system)
* The 4.2.x.x system is up
Reinitialize your standby master host (gpinitstandby).
Upgrade gpfdist on all of your ETL hosts.
Rebuild any custom modules against your 4.3 installation.
Download and install any Greenplum Database extensions.
(Optional) Install the latest Command Center Console and update your environment to point to the latest Command Center binaries.
Inform all database users of the completed upgrade.

For Users Running Greenplum Database 4.1.x.x

Users on a release prior to 4.1.x.x cannot upgrade directly to 4.3.

  1. Upgrade from your current release to 4.2.x.x (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  2. Follow the upgrade instructions in these release notes for Upgrading from 4.2.x.x to 4.3.

For Users Running Greenplum Database 4.0.x.x

Users on a release prior to 4.1.x.x cannot upgrade directly to 4.3.

  1. Upgrade from your current release to 4.1.x.x (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.1.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  2. Upgrade from the current release to 4.2.x.x (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  3. Follow the upgrade instructions in these release notes for Upgrading from 4.2.x.x to 4.3.

For Users Running Greenplum Database 3.3.x.x

Users on a release prior to 4.0.x.x cannot upgrade directly to 4.3.

  1. Upgrade from your current release to the latest 4.0.x.x release (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.0.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  2. Upgrade the 4.0.x.x release to the latest 4.1.x.x release (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.1.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  3. Upgrade from the 4.1.1 release to the latest 4.2.x.x release (follow the upgrade instructions in the latest Greenplum Database 4.2.x.x release notes available on Support Zone).
  4. Follow the upgrade instructions in these release notes for Upgrading from 4.2.x.x to 4.3.

Troubleshooting a Failed Upgrade

If you experience issues during the migration process, go to the Support page at Support Zone or contact Greenplum customer support at one of the following numbers:

United States: 800-782-4362 (1-800-SVC-4EMC)

Canada: 800-543-4782

Worldwide: +1-508-497-7901

Be prepared to provide the following information:

  • A completed Upgrade Procedure.
  • Log output from gpmigrator and gpcheckcat (located in ~/gpAdminLogs)

Greenplum Database Tools Compatibility

Client Tools

Greenplum releases a number of client tool packages on various platforms that can be used to connect to Greenplum Database and the Greenplum Command Center management tool. The following table describes the compatibility of these packages with this Greenplum Database release.

Note: Release and support for AIX Clients/Connectivity/Loaders is pending. We will update the Release Notes and the EMC Download Center when available.

Tool packages are available from the EMC Download Center.

Table 5. Greenplum Database Tools Compatibility
Client Package Description of Contents Client Version Server Versions
Greenplum Clients Greenplum Database Command-Line Interface (psql)

Greenplum MapReduce (gpmapreduce)

Note: gpmapreduce is not available on Windows.

 4.3 4.3
Greenplum Connectivity Standard PostgreSQL Database Drivers (ODBC, JDBC)

PostgreSQL Client C API (libpq)

 4.3 4.3
Greenplum Loaders Greenplum Database Parallel Data Loading Tools (gpfdist, gpload) 4.3 4.3
Greenplum Command Center Greenplum Database management tool. 1.2.0.1 4.3

Greenplum GPText

GPText enables processing mass quantities of raw text data (such as social media feeds or e-mail databases) into mission-critical information that guides business and project decisions. GPText joins the Greenplum Database massively parallel-processing database server with Apache Solr enterprise search.

GPText requires Greenplum Database. See the GPText release notes for the required version of Greenplum Database.

Greenplum Database Extensions Compatibility

Greenplum Database delivers an agile, extensible platform for in-database analytics, leveraging the system’s massively parallel architecture. Greenplum Database enables turn-key in-database analytics with Greenplum extensions.

You can download Greenplum extensions packages from the EMC Download Center and install them using the Greenplum Packager Manager (gppkg). See the Greenplum Database Administrator Guide for details.

Note that Greenplum Package Manager installation files for extension packages may release outside of standard Database release cycles. Therefore, for the latest install and configuration information regarding any supported database package/extension, go to the Support site and download Primus Article 288189 from our knowledge base (Requires a valid login to the EMC Support site).

The following table provides information about the compatibility of the Greenplum Database Extensions and their components with this Greenplum Database release.

Note that the PL/Python database extension is already included with the standard Greenplum database distribution.

Table 6. Greenplum Database Extensions Compatibility
Greenplum Database Extension Extension Components
Name Version
PostGIS 2.0 for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x PostGIS 2.0.3
Proj 4.8.0
Geos 3.3.8
PostGIS 1.0 for Greenplum Database PostGIS 1.4.2
Proj 4.7.0
Geos 3.2.2
PL/Java 1.0 for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x PL/Java Based on 1.4.0
Java JDK 1.6.0_26 Update 31
PL/R 1.0 for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x PL/R 8.3.0.12
R 2.13.0
PL/Perl 1.2 for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x PL/Perl Based on PostgreSQL 9.1
Perl 5.12.4 on RHEL 6.x

5.5.8 on RHEL 5.x, SUSE 10
PL/Perl 1.1 for Greenplum Database PL/Perl Based on PostgreSQL 9.1
Perl 5.12.4 on RHEL 5.x, SUSE 10
PL/Perl 1.0 for Greenplum Database PL/Perl Based on PostgreSQL 9.1
Perl 5.12.4 on RHEL 5.x, SUSE 10
Pgcrypto 1.1 for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x Pgcrypto Based on PostgreSQL 8.3
Greenplum Hadoop File System gphdfs 1.1
gphdfs 1.2
gphdfs 1.3
gphdfs 1.4
MADlib for Greenplum Database 4.3.x.x MADlib Based on MADlib version 1.4

Greenplum Database 4.3 supports these minimum Greenplum Database extensions package versions.

Table 7. Greenplum Database 4.3 Package Version
Greenplum Database Extension Minimum Package Version
PostGIS 2.0
PL/Java 1.1
PL/Perl 1.2
PL/R 1.0
Pgcrypto 1.1
gphdfs 1.5.1
MADlib 1.8

Package File Naming Convention

For Greenplum Database 4.3, this is the package file naming format.

pkgname-ver_pvpkg-version_gpdbrel-OS-version-arch.gppkg

This example is the package name for a postGIS package.

postgis-ossv2.0.3_pv2.0_gpdb4.3-rhel5-x86_64.gppkg

pkgname-ver - The package name and optional version of the software that was used to create the package extension. If the package is based on open source software, the version has format ossvversion. The version is the version of the open source software that the package is based on. For the postGIS package, ossv2.0.3 specifies that the package is based on postGIS version 2.0.3.

pvpkg-version - The package version. The version of the Greenplum Database package. For the postGIS package, pv2.0 specifies that the Greenplum Database package version is 2.0.

gpdbrel-OS-version-arch - The compatible Greenplum Database release. For the postGIS package, gpdb4.3-rhel5-x86_64 specifies that package is compatible with Greenplum Database 4.3 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.x, x86 64-bit architecture.

Hadoop Distribution Compatibility

Use the gppkg utility to install the gNet package containing the jar file for the extensions, the libraries, and the documentation for the gphdfs extensions. To install the correct distribution, refer to the following Hadoop extensions compatibility matrix:

Table 8. Hadoop Extensions Compatibility
Hadoop Distribution Version
Pivotal HD Pivotal HD 1.01
Greenplum HD Greenplum HD 1.1
Greenplum HD 1.2
Cloudera cdh3u2
cdh3u4
CDH4.1 with MRv1
Greenplum MR Greenplum MR 1.0
Greenplum MR 1.2

Greenplum Database 4.3 Documentation

For the latest Greenplum Database documentation go to Support Zone. Greenplum documentation is provided in PDF format.

Table 9. Greenplum Database Documentation
Title Revision
Greenplum Database 4.3 Release Notes A06
Greenplum Database 4.3 Installation Guide A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Database Administrator Guide A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 System Administrator Guide A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Reference Guide A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Utility Guide A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Client Tools for UNIX A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Client Tools for Windows A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Connectivity Tools for UNIX A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Connectivity Tools for Windows A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Load Tools for UNIX A01
Greenplum Database 4.3 Load Tools for Windows A01
Greenplum Command Center 1.2 Administrator Guide A01
1 A distribution of Hadoop 2.0