Run Vantage Express on VirtualBox

The latest version of Vantage Express VM image.

VirtualBox, version 6.1.

On Windows, you will also need 7zip to unzip Vantage Express.

Install VirtualBox by running the installer and accepting the default values. VirtualBox includes functionality that requires elevated privileges. When you start VirtualBox for the first time, you will be asked to confirm these elevated access. You will also need to reboot your machine to activate a VirtualBox kernel plugin.

If on Windows, install 7zip.

Go to the directory where you downloaded Teradata Vantage Express and unzip the downloaded file.

Set env variable VM_IMAGE_DIR to the path of the unzipped image directory. For example:

$env:VM_IMAGE_DIR = "$HOME\Downloads\VantageExpress17.10_Sles12"

export VM_IMAGE_DIR="$HOME/Downloads/VantageExpress17.10_Sles12"

export VM_IMAGE_DIR="$HOME/Downloads/VantageExpress17.10_Sles12"

We will now create a VirtualBox VM that uses the downloaded image. Run the following command. The script will take several minutes to complete. During the execution, the script will ask for a password to login to the VM and perform some setup. The password is root.

iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://git.io/Jz7rd'))

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://git.io/Jz7rX)"

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://git.io/Jz7rX)"

Once the VM is up, you will see its desktop environment. When prompted for username/password enter root for both.

The database is configured to autostart with the VM. To confirm that the database has started go to the virtual desktop and start Gnome Terminal. In the terminal execute pdestate command that will inform you if Vantage has already started:

watch pdestate -a

PDE state is RUN/STARTED.
DBS state is 5: Logons are enabled - The system is quiescent

PDE state is DOWN/HARDSTOP.

PDE state is START/NETCONFIG.

PDE state is START/GDOSYNC.

PDE state is START/TVSASTART.

PDE state is START/READY.
PDE state is RUN/STARTED.

DBS state is 1/1: DBS Startup - Initializing DBS Vprocs
PDE state is RUN/STARTED.

DBS state is 1/5: DBS Startup - Voting for Transaction Recovery
PDE state is RUN/STARTED.

DBS state is 1/4: DBS Startup - Starting PE Partitions
PDE state is RUN/STARTED.

Now that the database is up, go back to the virtual desktop and launch Teradata Studio Express. When you first start it you will be offered a tour. Once you close the tour, you will see a wizard window to add a new connection. Select Teradata:

On the next screen, connect to the database on your localhost using dbc for the username and password:

Once in Teradata Studio Express, go to Query Development perspective (go to the top menu and select Window → Query Development).

Connect using the previously created connection profile by double-clicking on Database Connections → New Teradata.

Using dbc user, we will create a new database called HR. Copy/paste this query and run it by hitting the run query button () or pressing F5 key:

CREATE DATABASE HR
AS PERMANENT = 60e6, -- 60MB
    SPOOL = 120e6; -- 120MB

Let’s create a sample table and insert some data and query it. We will first create a table to hold employee information:

CREATE SET TABLE HR.Employees (
   GlobalID INTEGER,
   FirstName VARCHAR(30),
   LastName VARCHAR(30),
   DateOfBirth DATE FORMAT 'YYYY-MM-DD',
   JoinedDate DATE FORMAT 'YYYY-MM-DD',
   DepartmentCode BYTEINT
)
UNIQUE PRIMARY INDEX ( GlobalID );

Now, let’s insert a record:

INSERT INTO HR.Employees (
   GlobalID,
   FirstName,
   LastName,
   DateOfBirth,
   JoinedDate,
   DepartmentCode
)
VALUES (
   101,
   'Adam',
   'Tworkowski',
   '1980-01-05',
   '2004-08-01',
   01
);

Finally, let’s see if we can retrieve the data:

SELECT * FROM HR.Employees;

GlobalID  FirstName  LastName   DateOfBirth  JoinedDate  DepartmentCode
--------  ---------  ---------- -----------  ----------  --------------
     101  Adam       Tworkowski  1980-01-05  2004-08-01               1