EXASOL VM Use

Hello,

You can download and start using the Free Small Business Edition (FSBE) package, which has been announced with the new version of the high-performance analytical database Exasol and allows the use of RAM up to 200 GB, from our website. I wanted to give brief information on how to use and access a file of approximately 2GB after downloading it.

On the website you will still have to choose between the production version 5 and the beta 6, the FSBE option is available for version 6, so I assume you downloaded that file.

When you open the zipped file you downloaded, you will find a virtual machine image with .ova extension under the EXASOL-6.0.beta2 directory. You can open this image with virtual machine software. I used Oracle Virtual Box. Oracle Virtual Box first converted this file to its own format and listed it as a virtual machine.

Exasol installation and configuration is extremely easy and fast. However, it is necessary to make a few changes in the virtual machine settings before using it.

1. Virtual machine RAM amount

Exasol is an in-memory database, so the amount of RAM you will allocate to it is an extremely critical parameter for performance. Therefore, it is useful to allocate the highest possible RAM from the virtual machine settings. In the example below I allocated 4GB of RAM, but this is purely for testing. It is recommended to allocate a minimum of 12 GB of RAM here. The RAM you will allocate here determines the maximum amount of RAM that the database will use after leaving a 2 GB share to the operating system..

2. Oracle Virtual Box Network Settings

Again, I chose Bridged Adapter from Oracle Virtual Box Network settings for seamless access to Exasol VM.

3. Start the Virtual Machine

After this step, you can start the virtual machine. When the machine starts, you will see the following screen.

4. Exasol Network Settings

As can be understood from the above, the IP address of the virtual machine is a standard address and we need to change the network settings to work in our own network. For this, we go to the Maintenance section with the arrow key and press enter. Exasol asks for confirmation, here we tick the 'I will take care' option. As seen below, we come to Configure Network with the arrow keys and press enter.

5. Change IP settings

Below are the default network settings. Paying attention to the English/Turkish characters of the keyboard, we need to make the IP address static and suitable for our network configuration.

6. Static IP

You can change the above settings with the arrow keys, here we need to change the * (asterisk) sign in the DHCP line with the spacebar and declare that we will use a static IP. Below is the final configuration. I chose the address you see below and the gateway as the IP address.

7. Management Screen: ExaOperation

After confirming our selection from the arrow option, you will return to the main screen from the maintenance screen by choosing exit in the next selection. Now, Exasol is not available but ready to access. Now, when you type the ip address of the virtual machine in any browser, the following screen should appear. If you cannot access it, check your network settings again, if the settings are correct, restart the virtual machine (use the restart in the menu options)

8. ExaOperation Introduction

If you have reached the above screen, you can log in to ExaOperation using the admin/admin username password. Below is the ExaOperation screenshot. ATTENTION: Please do not forget to change the password in the Access Management section on the screen below. Do not leave any of your system passwords as default.

9. Close the Database

As seen above, our test database is up and running. You can create a new database from the menu options here, or change the parameters of the existing database. The RAM limit you set for the VM configuration above is the OS limit. In order for Exasol to use the memory, you need to specify the RAM limit to be used by the Database in ExaOperation. You can download the ExaOperation manual here.

To make a configuration change, you need to select the database and shutdown as follows. Then you can get to the configuration page by clicking on the database name (Exaone below).

10. Set Database RAM Limit

You can change the database parameters by clicking the edit button at the bottom of the configuration page. You need to change the number next to DB RAM (GB) shown below. The limit you enter here must be below the total RAM you have given for the virtual machine above. At least 2 GB must be left to the operating system.

11. Initialize the Database

Confirm your RAM selection by clicking the apply button on the page above. Then go back to the screen where you just shut down the database and select the box next to the database again, this time press the startup button. The database will start in 1-2 minutes.

12. Explus Installation and Access

After this stage, you need to find and install Exaplus, the development environment offered by Exasol, from the clients folder in the zip file you downloaded (EXAplus-6.0.9202.msi). Exaplus is an application that allows you to develop your database very easily. As in the login screen below, you can connect to your Exasol database with port <ip address>:8563 and default username password sys/exasol and start working with the world's fastest analytical database. Please don't forget to change the password of the sys user.

13. Documentation

Exasol SQL commands, user, role, schema creation, data upload, connection creation etc. in the doc folder in the zip file you downloaded. You can access the Exasolution User Manual with information such as After that, it is based on standard SQL and database knowledge. You will not believe the performance you will get with a RAM you will allocate between 10% and 20% of your total data volume. You can reach us from our contact information on our website for any questions, and we will be happy to assist you.