Summary of Greenplum Features

This section provides a high-level overview of the system requirements and feature set of Greenplum Database. It contains the following topics:

Greenplum SQL Standard Conformance

The SQL language was first formally standardized in 1986 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as SQL 1986. Subsequent versions of the SQL standard have been released by ANSI and as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards: SQL 1989, SQL 1992, SQL 1999, SQL 2003, SQL 2006, and finally SQL 2008, which is the current SQL standard. The official name of the standard is ISO/IEC 9075-14:2008. In general, each new version adds more features, although occasionally features are deprecated or removed.

It is important to note that there are no commercial database systems that are fully compliant with the SQL standard. Greenplum Database is almost fully compliant with the SQL 1992 standard, with most of the features from SQL 1999. Several features from SQL 2003 have also been implemented (most notably the SQL OLAP features).

This section addresses the important conformance issues of Greenplum Database as they relate to the SQL standards. For a feature-by-feature list of Greenplum's support of the latest SQL standard, see SQL 2008 Optional Feature Compliance.

Core SQL Conformance

In the process of building a parallel, shared-nothing database system and query optimizer, certain common SQL constructs are not currently implemented in Greenplum Database. The following SQL constructs are not supported:

  1. Some set returning subqueries in EXISTS or NOT EXISTS clauses that Greenplum's parallel optimizer cannot rewrite into joins.

  2. Backwards scrolling cursors, including the use of FETCH PRIOR, FETCH FIRST, FETCH ABSOLUTE, and FETCH RELATIVE.

  3. In CREATE TABLE statements (on hash-distributed tables): a UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY clause must include all of (or a superset of) the distribution key columns. Because of this restriction, only one UNIQUE clause or PRIMARY KEY clause is allowed in a CREATE TABLE statement. UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY clauses are not allowed on randomly-distributed tables.

  4. CREATE UNIQUE INDEX statements that do not contain all of (or a superset of) the distribution key columns. CREATE UNIQUE INDEX is not allowed on randomly-distributed tables.

    Note that UNIQUE INDEXES (but not UNIQUE CONSTRAINTS) are enforced on a part basis within a partitioned table. They guarantee the uniqueness of the key within each part or sub-part.

  5. VOLATILE or STABLE functions cannot run on the segments, and so are generally limited to being passed literal values as the arguments to their parameters.

  6. Triggers are not generally supported because they typically rely on the use of VOLATILE functions. PostgreSQL Event Triggers are supported because they capture only DDL events.

  7. Referential integrity constraints (foreign keys) are not enforced in Greenplum Database. Users can declare foreign keys and this information is kept in the system catalog, however.

  8. Sequence manipulation functions CURRVAL and LASTVAL.

SQL 1992 Conformance

The following features of SQL 1992 are not supported in Greenplum Database:

  1. NATIONAL CHARACTER (NCHAR) and NATIONAL CHARACTER VARYING (NVARCHAR). Users can declare the NCHAR and NVARCHAR types, however they are just synonyms for CHAR and VARCHAR in Greenplum Database.
  2. CREATE ASSERTION statement.
  3. INTERVAL literals are supported in Greenplum Database, but do not conform to the standard.
  4. GET DIAGNOSTICS statement.
  5. GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLEs and LOCAL TEMPORARY TABLEs. Greenplum TEMPORARY TABLEs do not conform to the SQL standard, but many commercial database systems have implemented temporary tables in the same way. Greenplum temporary tables are the same as VOLATILE TABLEs in Teradata.
  6. UNIQUE predicate.
  7. MATCH PARTIAL for referential integrity checks (most likely will not be implemented in Greenplum Database).

SQL 1999 Conformance

The following features of SQL 1999 are not supported in Greenplum Database:

  1. Large Object data types: BLOB, CLOB, NCLOB. However, the BYTEA and TEXT columns can store very large amounts of data in Greenplum Database (hundreds of megabytes).

  2. MODULE (SQL client modules).

  3. CREATE PROCEDURE (SQL/PSM). This can be worked around in Greenplum Database by creating a FUNCTION that returns void, and invoking the function as follows:

    SELECT <myfunc>(<args>);

  4. The PostgreSQL/Greenplum function definition language (PL/PGSQL) is a subset of Oracle's PL/SQL, rather than being compatible with the SQL/PSM function definition language. Greenplum Database also supports function definitions written in Python, Perl, Java, and R.

  5. BIT and BIT VARYING data types (intentionally omitted). These were deprecated in SQL 2003, and replaced in SQL 2008.

  6. Greenplum supports identifiers up to 63 characters long. The SQL standard requires support for identifiers up to 128 characters long.

  7. Prepared transactions (PREPARE TRANSACTION, COMMIT PREPARED, ROLLBACK PREPARED). This also means Greenplum does not support XA Transactions (2 phase commit coordination of database transactions with external transactions).

  8. CHARACTER SET option on the definition of CHAR() or VARCHAR() columns.

  9. Specification of CHARACTERS or OCTETS (BYTES) on the length of a CHAR() or VARCHAR() column. For example, VARCHAR(15 CHARACTERS) or VARCHAR(15 OCTETS) or VARCHAR(15 BYTES).

  10. CREATE DISTINCT TYPE statement. CREATE DOMAIN can be used as a workaround in Greenplum.

  11. The explicit table construct.

SQL 2003 Conformance

The following features of SQL 2003 are not supported in Greenplum Database:

  1. MERGE statements.
  2. IDENTITY columns and the associated GENERATED ALWAYS/GENERATED BY DEFAULT clause. The SERIAL or BIGSERIAL data types are very similar to INT or BIGINT GENERATED BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY.
  3. MULTISET modifiers on data types.
  4. ROW data type.
  5. Greenplum Database syntax for using sequences is non-standard. For example, nextval('seq') is used in Greenplum instead of the standard NEXT VALUE FOR seq.
  6. GENERATED ALWAYS AS columns. Views can be used as a workaround.
  7. The sample clause (TABLESAMPLE) on SELECT statements. The random() function can be used as a workaround to get random samples from tables.
  8. The partitioned join tables construct (PARTITION BY in a join).
  9. Greenplum array data types are almost SQL standard compliant with some exceptions. Generally customers should not encounter any problems using them.

SQL 2008 Conformance

The following features of SQL 2008 are not supported in Greenplum Database:

  1. BINARY and VARBINARY data types. BYTEA can be used in place of VARBINARY in Greenplum Database.

  2. The ORDER BY clause is ignored in views and subqueries unless a LIMIT clause is also used. This is intentional, as the Greenplum optimizer cannot determine when it is safe to avoid the sort, causing an unexpected performance impact for such ORDER BY clauses. To work around, you can specify a really large LIMIT. For example:

    SELECT * FROM mytable ORDER BY 1 LIMIT 9999999999

  3. The row subquery construct is not supported.

  4. TRUNCATE TABLE does not accept the CONTINUE IDENTITY and RESTART IDENTITY clauses.

Greenplum and PostgreSQL Compatibility

Greenplum Database is based on PostgreSQL 9.4. To support the distributed nature and typical workload of a Greenplum Database system, some SQL commands have been added or modified, and there are a few PostgreSQL features that are not supported. Greenplum has also added features not found in PostgreSQL, such as physical data distribution, parallel query optimization, external tables, resource queues, and enhanced table partitioning. For full SQL syntax and references, see the SQL Commands.

Note

Greenplum Database does not support the PostgreSQL large object facility for streaming user data that is stored in large-object structures.

Note

VMware does not support using WITH OIDS or oids=TRUE to assign an OID system column when creating or altering a table. This syntax is deprecated and will be removed in a future Greenplum release.

Table 1. SQL Support in Greenplum Database
SQL Command Supported in Greenplum Modifications, Limitations, Exceptions
ALTER AGGREGATE YES  
ALTER CONVERSION YES  
ALTER DATABASE YES  
ALTER DOMAIN YES  
ALTER EVENT TRIGGER YES  
ALTER EXTENSION YES Changes the definition of a Greenplum Database extension - based on PostgreSQL 9.6.
ALTER FUNCTION YES  
ALTER GROUP YES An alias for ALTER ROLE
ALTER INDEX YES  
ALTER LANGUAGE YES  
ALTER OPERATOR YES  
ALTER OPERATOR CLASS YES  
ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY YES  
ALTER PROTOCOL YES  
ALTER RESOURCE QUEUE YES Greenplum Database resource management feature - not in PostgreSQL.
ALTER ROLE YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

RESOURCE QUEUE queue_name | none
ALTER SCHEMA YES  
ALTER SEQUENCE YES  
ALTER SYSTEM NO  
ALTER TABLE YES Unsupported Clauses / Options:

CLUSTER ON

ENABLE/DISABLE TRIGGER

Greenplum Database Clauses:

ADD | DROP | RENAME | SPLIT | EXCHANGE PARTITION | SET SUBPARTITION TEMPLATE | SET WITH (REORGANIZE=true | false) | SET DISTRIBUTED BY
ALTER TABLESPACE YES  
ALTER TRIGGER NO  
ALTER TYPE YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

SET DEFAULT ENCODING
ALTER USER YES An alias for ALTER ROLE
ALTER VIEW YES  
ANALYZE YES  
BEGIN YES  
CHECKPOINT YES  
CLOSE YES  
CLUSTER YES  
COMMENT YES  
COMMIT YES  
COMMIT PREPARED NO  
COPY YES Modified Clauses:

ESCAPE [ AS ] 'escape' | 'OFF'

Greenplum Database Clauses:

[LOG ERRORS] SEGMENT REJECT LIMIT count [ROWS|PERCENT]
CREATE AGGREGATE YES Unsupported Clauses / Options:

[ , SORTOP = sort_operator ]

Greenplum Database Clauses:

[ , COMBINEFUNC = combinefunc ]

Limitations:

The functions used to implement the aggregate must be IMMUTABLE functions.
CREATE CAST YES  
CREATE CONSTRAINT TRIGGER NO  
CREATE CONVERSION YES  
CREATE DATABASE YES  
CREATE DOMAIN YES  
CREATE EVENT TRIGGER YES  
CREATE EXTENSION YES Loads a new extension into Greenplum Database - based on PostgreSQL 9.6.
CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE YES Greenplum Database parallel ETL feature - not in PostgreSQL 9.4.
CREATE FUNCTION YES Limitations:

Functions defined as STABLE or VOLATILE can be run in Greenplum Database provided that they are run on the master only. STABLE and VOLATILE functions cannot be used in statements that run at the segment level.

CREATE GROUP YES An alias for CREATE ROLE
CREATE INDEX YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

USING bitmap (bitmap indexes)

Limitations:

UNIQUE indexes are allowed only if they contain all of (or a superset of) the Greenplum distribution key columns. On partitioned tables, a unique index is only supported within an individual partition - not across all partitions.

CONCURRENTLY keyword not supported in Greenplum.
CREATE LANGUAGE YES  
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW YES Based on PostgreSQL 9.4.
CREATE OPERATOR YES Limitations:

The function used to implement the operator must be an IMMUTABLE function.
CREATE OPERATOR CLASS YES  
CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY YES  
CREATE PROTOCOL YES  
CREATE RESOURCE QUEUE YES Greenplum Database resource management feature - not in PostgreSQL 9.4.
CREATE ROLE YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

RESOURCE QUEUE queue_name | none
CREATE RULE YES  
CREATE SCHEMA YES  
CREATE SEQUENCE YES Limitations:

The lastval() and currval() functions are not supported.

The setval() function is only allowed in queries that do not operate on distributed data.
CREATE TABLE YES Unsupported Clauses / Options:

[GLOBAL | LOCAL]

REFERENCES

FOREIGN KEY

[DEFERRABLE | NOT DEFERRABLE]

Limited Clauses:

UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraints are only allowed on hash-distributed tables (DISTRIBUTED BY), and the constraint columns must be the same as or a superset of the distribution key columns of the table and must include all the distribution key columns of the partitioning key.

Greenplum Database Clauses:

DISTRIBUTED BY (column, [ ... ] ) |

DISTRIBUTED RANDOMLY

PARTITION BY type (column [, ...])    ( partition_specification, [...] )

WITH (appendoptimized=true      [,compresslevel=value,blocksize=value] )
CREATE TABLE AS YES See CREATE TABLE
CREATE TABLESPACE YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

Specify host file system locations for specific segment instances.

WITH (contentID_1='/path/to/dir1...)
CREATE TRIGGER NO  
CREATE TYPE YES Greenplum Database Clauses:

COMPRESSTYPE | COMPRESSLEVEL | BLOCKSIZE

Limitations:

The functions used to implement a new base type must be IMMUTABLE functions.
CREATE USER YES An alias for CREATE ROLE
CREATE VIEW YES  
DEALLOCATE YES  
DECLARE YES Unsupported Clauses / Options:

SCROLL

FOR UPDATE [ OF column [, ...] ]

Limitations:

Cursors cannot be backward-scrolled. Forward scrolling is supported.

PL/pgSQL does not have support for updatable cursors.

DELETE YES  
DISCARD YES

Limitation: DISCARD ALL is not supported.
DO YES PostgreSQL 9.0 feature
DROP AGGREGATE YES  
DROP CAST YES  
DROP CONVERSION YES  
DROP DATABASE YES  
DROP DOMAIN YES  
DROP EVENT TRIGGER YES  
DROP EXTENSION YES Removes an extension from Greenplum Database – based on PostgreSQL 9.6.
DROP EXTERNAL TABLE YES Greenplum Database parallel ETL feature - not in PostgreSQL 9.4.
DROP FUNCTION YES  
DROP GROUP YES An alias for DROP ROLE
DROP INDEX YES  
DROP LANGUAGE YES  
DROP OPERATOR YES  
DROP OPERATOR CLASS YES  
DROP OPERATOR FAMILY YES  
DROP OWNED NO  
DROP PROTOCOL YES  
DROP RESOURCE QUEUE YES Greenplum Database resource management feature - not in PostgreSQL 9.4.
DROP ROLE YES  
DROP RULE YES  
DROP SCHEMA YES  
DROP SEQUENCE YES  
DROP TABLE YES  
DROP TABLESPACE YES  
DROP TRIGGER NO  
DROP TYPE YES  
DROP USER YES An alias for DROP ROLE
DROP VIEW YES  
END YES  
EXECUTE YES  
EXPLAIN YES  
FETCH YES Unsupported Clauses / Options:

LAST

PRIOR

BACKWARD

BACKWARD ALL

Limitations:

Cannot fetch rows in a nonsequential fashion; backward scan is not supported.
GRANT YES  
INSERT YES  
LATERAL Join Type NO  
LISTEN YES  
LOAD YES  
LOCK YES  
MOVE YES See FETCH
NOTIFY YES  
PREPARE YES  
PREPARE TRANSACTION NO  
REASSIGN OWNED YES  
REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW YES Based on PostgreSQL 9.4.
REINDEX YES  
RELEASE SAVEPOINT YES  
RESET YES  
RETRIEVE YES Greenplum Database parallel retrieve cursor - not in PostgreSQL 9.4.
REVOKE YES  
ROLLBACK YES  
ROLLBACK PREPARED NO  
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT YES  
SAVEPOINT YES  
SELECT YES Limitations:

Limited use of VOLATILE and STABLE functions in FROM or WHERE clauses

Text search (Tsearch2) is not supported

Greenplum Database Clauses (OLAP):

[GROUP BY grouping_element [, ...]]

[WINDOW window_name AS (window_specification)]

[FILTER (WHERE condition)] applied to an aggregate function in the SELECT list
SELECT INTO YES See SELECT
SET YES  
SET CONSTRAINTS NO In PostgreSQL, this only applies to foreign key constraints, which are currently not enforced in Greenplum Database.
SET ROLE YES  
SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION YES Deprecated as of PostgreSQL 8.1 - see SET ROLE
SET TRANSACTION YES Limitations:

DEFERRABLE clause has no effect.

SET TRANSACTION SNAPSHOT command is not supported.
SHOW YES  
START TRANSACTION YES  
TRUNCATE YES  
UNLISTEN YES  
UPDATE YES Limitations:

SET not allowed for Greenplum distribution key columns.
VACUUM YES Limitations:

VACUUM FULL is not recommended in Greenplum Database.
VALUES YES  
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