Vertica Compression Test

Overview

The following tests calculate the amount of disk space required to store 10+ million time:value samples in a Vertica database, version 7.1.1-0.

Results

Schema Compressed Total Size Row Count Bytes per Row Bytes per Sample
Trade Table Yes 24,230,537 2,045,514 11.8 2.4
Universal Table Yes 56,604,757 10,227,570 5.6 5.6

Dataset

The dataset represents 20+ years of historical minute stock trade data available from the Kibot company.

The one minute trade statistics are available for IBM stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The recording starts on February 1st, 1998 and lasts until the last trading day.

The data is provided in the commonly used OHLCV format.

Date,Time,Open,High,Low,Close,Volume
01/02/1998,09:30,104.5,104.5,104.5,104.5,67000
...
09/08/2017,17:38,142.45,142.45,142.45,142.45,3556

The records can be downloaded from http://api.kibot.com/?action=history&symbol=IBM&interval=1&unadjusted=0&bp=1&user=guest.

The file contains over 2 million lines. The OHLC metrics contain values with up to four decimal places. The volume metric is an integer. The dates are recorded in US/Eastern time.

Each row consists of 5 metrics for a given 1-minute interval:

09/08/2017,15:42,142.53,142.5399,142.49,142.49,10031
...
time   = 09/08/2017 15:42
open   = 142.53
high   = 142.5399
low    = 142.49
close  = 142.49
volume = 10031

Schema Alternatives

The tests are performed using two schema options:

  • Trade Table schema uses a named column for each input metric.
  • Universal Table schema uses a single metric ID column for all input metrics.

The Trade Table schema requires less disk space however the underlying table can not be extended to store different sets of columns for different instrument types. As such, multiple tables must be created to store data for various instrument types.

The Universal Table schema allows adding new metrics without altering the tables. This can be done by inserting a new record into the Metrics table (a dictionary) and using foreign keys when inserting data into the data table.

Trade Table Schema

  • TradeHistory Table
\d TradeHistory;

+--------+--------------+------------+--------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+
| Schema |    Table     |   Column   |     Type     | Size | Default | Not Null | Primary Key |      Foreign Key       |
+--------+--------------+------------+--------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+
| public | TradeHistory | instrument | int          |    8 |         | t        | t           | public.Instruments(id) |
| public | TradeHistory | "time"     | timestamp(0) |    8 |         | t        | t           |                        |
| public | TradeHistory | open       | numeric(7,4) |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
| public | TradeHistory | high       | numeric(7,4) |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
| public | TradeHistory | low        | numeric(7,4) |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
| public | TradeHistory | close      | numeric(7,4) |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
| public | TradeHistory | volume     | int          |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
+--------+--------------+------------+--------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+

SELECT column_name, encodings, compressions FROM column_storage WHERE ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME='TradeHistory';

+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| column_name |  encodings   | compressions |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| instrument  | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| time        | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| open        | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| high        | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| low         | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| close       | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| volume      | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| epoch       | Int_Delta    | none         |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+

SELECT * FROM TradeHistory LIMIT 5;

+------------+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--------+
| instrument |        time         |   open   |   high   |   low    |  close   | volume |
+------------+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--------+
|          1 | 1998-01-02 09:30:00 | 104.5000 | 104.5000 | 104.5000 | 104.5000 |  67000 |
|          1 | 1998-01-02 09:31:00 | 104.3800 | 104.5000 | 104.3800 | 104.3800 |  10800 |
|          1 | 1998-01-02 09:32:00 | 104.4400 | 104.5000 | 104.3800 | 104.5000 |  13300 |
|          1 | 1998-01-02 09:33:00 | 104.4400 | 104.5000 | 104.3800 | 104.3800 |  16800 |
|          1 | 1998-01-02 09:34:00 | 104.3800 | 104.5000 | 104.3800 | 104.3800 |   4801 |
+------------+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+--------+
  • Instruments Table
\d Instruments;

+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| Schema |    Table    | Column |    Type     | Size | Default | Not Null | Primary Key | Foreign Key |
+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| public | Instruments | id     | int         |    8 |         | t        | t           |             |
| public | Instruments | name   | varchar(20) |   20 |         | f        | f           |             |
+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+

SELECT column_name, encodings, compressions FROM column_storage WHERE ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME='Instruments';

+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| column_name |  encodings   | compressions |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| id          | Uncompressed | int delta    |
| name        | String       | lzo          |
| epoch       | Int_Delta    | none         |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+

SELECT * FROM Instruments;

+----+------+
| id | name |
+----+------+
|  1 | IBM  |
+----+------+

Universal Table Schema

  • UniversalHistory Table
\d UniversalHistory;

+--------+------------------+------------+---------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+
| Schema |      Table       |   Column   |     Type      | Size | Default | Not Null | Primary Key |      Foreign Key       |
+--------+------------------+------------+---------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+
| public | UniversalHistory | Instrument | int           |    8 |         | t        | t           | public.Instruments(id) |
| public | UniversalHistory | Metric     | int           |    8 |         | t        | t           | public.Metrics(Id)     |
| public | UniversalHistory | "Time"     | timestamp(0)  |    8 |         | t        | t           |                        |
| public | UniversalHistory | Value      | numeric(12,4) |    8 |         | f        | f           |                        |
+--------+------------------+------------+---------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------------+

SELECT column_name, encodings, compressions FROM column_storage WHERE ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME='UniversalHistory';

+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| column_name |  encodings   | compressions |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| instrument  | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| metric      | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| time        | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| value       | Uncompressed | gzip         |
| epoch       | Int_Delta    | none         |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+

SELECT * FROM UniversalHistory LIMIT 5;

+------------+--------+---------------------+----------+
| Instrument | Metric |        Time         |  Value   |
+------------+--------+---------------------+----------+
|          1 |      1 | 1998-01-02 09:30:00 | 104.5000 |
|          1 |      1 | 1998-01-02 09:31:00 | 104.3800 |
|          1 |      1 | 1998-01-02 09:32:00 | 104.4400 |
|          1 |      1 | 1998-01-02 09:33:00 | 104.4400 |
|          1 |      1 | 1998-01-02 09:34:00 | 104.3800 |
+------------+--------+---------------------+----------+
  • Instruments Table
\d Instruments;

+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| Schema |    Table    | Column |    Type     | Size | Default | Not Null | Primary Key | Foreign Key |
+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| public | Instruments | id     | int         |    8 |         | t        | t           |             |
| public | Instruments | name   | varchar(20) |   20 |         | f        | f           |             |
+--------+-------------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+

SELECT column_name, encodings, compressions FROM column_storage WHERE ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME='Instruments';

+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| column_name |  encodings   | compressions |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| id          | Uncompressed | int delta    |
| name        | String       | lzo          |
| epoch       | Int_Delta    | none         |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+

SELECT * FROM Instruments;

+----+------+
| id | name |
+----+------+
|  1 | IBM  |
+----+------+
  • Metrics Table
\d Metrics;

+--------+---------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| Schema |  Table  | Column |    Type     | Size | Default | Not Null | Primary Key | Foreign Key |
+--------+---------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+
| public | Metrics | Id     | int         |    8 |         | t        | t           |             |
| public | Metrics | Name   | varchar(20) |   20 |         | f        | f           |             |
+--------+---------+--------+-------------+------+---------+----------+-------------+-------------+

SELECT column_name, encodings, compressions FROM column_storage WHERE ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME='Metrics';

+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| column_name |  encodings   | compressions |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| Id          | Uncompressed | int delta    |
| Name        | String       | lzo          |
| epoch       | Int_Delta    | none         |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+

SELECT * FROM Metrics;

+----+--------+
| Id |  Name  |
+----+--------+
|  1 | Open   |
|  2 | High   |
|  3 | Low    |
|  4 | Close  |
|  5 | Volume |
+----+--------+

Executing Tests

Download Input Data

Create directory /tmp/test.

mkdir /tmp/test

Download the dataset.

curl --compressed -o /tmp/test/IBM_adjusted.txt \
  "http://api.kibot.com/?action=history&symbol=IBM&interval=1&unadjusted=0&bp=1&user=guest"

Verify the row count:

wc -l IBM_adjusted.txt
2045514 IBM_adjusted.txt

Launch Vertica Database Container

Start a Vertica v7.1.1-0 container. Mount /tmp/test directory to the container.

docker run --name=vertica -v /tmp/test:/data -d sumitchawla/vertica

Execute SQL scripts for the Trade Table Schema

curl -o /tmp/test/vertica-trade-table.sql \
 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axibase/atsd/master/administration/compaction/vertica-trade-table.sql"
cat /tmp/test/vertica-trade-table.sql | \
  docker exec -i vertica /opt/vertica/bin/vsql docker dbadmin -q | \
  grep -E '\+|\|' --color=never
+-------------------+-----------+------------+
| ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME | ROW_COUNT | table_size |
+-------------------+-----------+------------+
| TradeHistory      |   2045514 |   24230537 |
+-------------------+-----------+------------+

Execute SQL scripts for the Universal Table Schema

curl -o /tmp/test/vertica-universal-table.sql \
 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axibase/atsd/master/administration/compaction/vertica-universal-table.sql"
cat /tmp/test/vertica-universal-table.sql | \
  docker exec -i vertica /opt/vertica/bin/vsql docker dbadmin -q | \
  grep -E '\+|\|' --color=never
+-------------------+-----------+------------+
| ANCHOR_TABLE_NAME | ROW_COUNT | table_size |
+-------------------+-----------+------------+
| UniversalHistory  |  10227570 |   56604757 |
+-------------------+-----------+------------+