Introduction to Greenplum

Greenplum Database is able to handle the storage and processing of large amounts of data by distributing the load across several servers or hosts. A logical database in Greenplum is actually an array of individual PostgreSQL databases, all working together to present a single database image. The master is the entry point to the Greenplum Database system. It is the database instance where clients connect and submit SQL statements. The master coordinates the work across the other database instances in the system, the segments, which handle data processing and storage. The segments communicate with each other and with the master over the interconnect, which is the networking layer of Greenplum Database.

Greenplum Database is a software-only solution, meaning that it runs on a variety of commodity server platforms from Greenplum-certified hardware vendors. The hardware and database software are not coupled as with some other data warehouse appliance vendors. However, as with any database, Greenplum’s performance is dependent on the hardware on which it is installed. And because the database is distributed across multiple machines in a Greenplum Database system, the selection and configuration of hardware is even more important to achieving the best performance possible.