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What is the Exasol Community Edition?

The Community Edition is a fully functional Exasol v8 database, packaged for easy installation and use on a desktop or laptop environment. It is designed to give users a hands-on introduction to Exasol’s high-performance capabilities in a non-production setting.

Key Features

  • Fully functioning Exasol v8 database: Experience the core functionality of the Exasol database without restrictions on features.
  • Easy and secure installation: Quickly set up Exasol on your desktop with minimal configuration.
  • Packaged as an Ubuntu OVA file: Distributed in a convenient virtual machine format that runs seamlessly on VirtualBox or similar hypervisors.
  • Linux GUI environment: Includes a pre-configured Linux GUI that runs the Exasol database and a SQL editor for seamless interaction.
  • Customizable resource allocation: Allocate CPU and RAM according to the capabilities of your host system.
  • Getting started worksheets: A set of pre-configured SQL worksheets to guide you through running your first queries.

Requirements

To run the Community Edition, your system must meet the following minimum requirements:

  • Platform: 64-bit x86 (not compatible with Mac M-series/ARM processors)
  • Disk: 50GB
  • Processor: 4 vCPUs (default: 8 vCPUs)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM (default: 16 GB RAM)
  • Hypervisor: VMware Workstation Pro (Windows), VMware Fusion Pro (macOS), Oracle VirtualBox, or a similar virtualization platform

For improved performance, allocate more resources if your host system supports it. The default configuration uses 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM for a better experience.

Limitations

  • 200 GB RAW data limit: Designed for testing and smaller-scale use cases, the Community Edition has a data storage limit of 200 GB.
  • Not suitable for production: Intended for testing, learning, and non-production workloads only.
  • Shared system resources: Exasol is designed to run on dedicated hardware. Since this is a virtual machine, it shares system resources with other applications, which may cause performance fluctuations, especially when running multiple workloads in parallel.

Support

  • Community Edition: This version of Exasol is provided as-is, without official support from Exasol. It is not intended for production use.
  • Exasol software: The Exasol database engine included in the Community Edition is the same enterprise-grade software supported in production deployments. However, the specific packaging as a Community Edition OVA is not supported.
  • Production use: For production workloads, please contact Exasol Sales to upgrade to a production-ready database with full support for enterprise environments.

How to install

Installing the Exasol Community Edition

1. Install VMware Workstation/Fusion

VMware Workstation (for Windows) and VMware Fusion (for macOS) are hypervisors that allow you to run virtual machines.

For detailed installation instructions, refer to the VMware documentation.

2. Download the Exasol Community Edition OVA File

Go to the Exasol Community Edition download page and download the OVA file.

3. Import the OVA File into VMware Workstation/Fusion

Open VMware Workstation/Fusion

Launch VMware Workstation (Windows) or VMware Fusion (macOS).

Start the Import Process
  1. Click File > Open.
  2. Navigate to the downloaded OVA file.
  3. Select it and click Open.
Customize the Import Settings

CPU and RAM: If your system allows, increase resources. The default is 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM.

Import the OVA
  1. Click Import.
  2. Wait a few minutes for VMware to import the OVA.

4. Start the Virtual Machine

  1. Select the VM in VMware and click Power On.
  2. The VM will boot and automatically log in.

If prompted to log in manually:

  • Username: exasol
  • Password: exasol
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Update the Database IP Address

Once the VM has booted, run the Update IPs desktop application to refresh the database IP.

  1. Open Update IPs.
  2. Wait for the script to finish.
  3. Verify the IP in the DB Status Monitor.

🚨 Skipping this step may cause connection issues. 🚨

Install on Windows using VMware Workstation Pro

Install on macOS using VMware Fusion pro

1. Install VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a hypervisor for running virtual machines.

  • Windows/macOS: Download VirtualBox from the official website.
  • Linux: Most Linux distributions provide VirtualBox through their package manager.

For detailed installation instructions, refer to the VirtualBox documentation.

2. Download the Exasol Community Edition OVA File

Download the OVA file from the Exasol Community Edition download page.

3. Import the OVA File into VirtualBox

Open VirtualBox

Launch VirtualBox on your system.

Start the Import Process
  1. Click File > Import Appliance.
  2. Select the downloaded OVA file.
  3. Click Next.
Customize the Import Settings
  • CPU and RAM: If possible, increase resources (default: 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM).
Import the OVA
  1. Click Finish to begin the import.
  2. Wait for VirtualBox to complete the process.

4. Edit the VM Settings

Before starting the VM, update the settings:

  1. Graphics Controller: Set to VMSVGA.
  2. EFI Support: Check Enable EFI.
  3. Boot Order:
    • Uncheck Floppy and Optical.
    • Move Hard Disk to the top.
  4. Chipset: Change to ICH9.

5. Start the Virtual Machine

  1. Select the VM and click Start.
  2. The VM will boot up and automatically log in.

If prompted to log in manually:

  • Username: exasol
  • Password: exasol
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Update the Database IP Address

Once the VM has booted, run the Update IPs desktop application.

  1. Open Update IPs.
  2. Wait for the script to finish.
  3. Verify the IP in the DB Status Monitor.

🚨 Skipping this step may cause connection issues. 🚨

Install on Windows using Virtualbox

Install on macOS using Virtualbox

Getting Started

Running Queries in Exasol

1. Open DbVisualizer

  1. Double-click the DbVisualizer desktop icon.
  2. Expand the Exasol database connection.
  3. Ensure the connection is successful.

2. Run Your First Query

  1. Navigate to the Scripts tab.
  2. Open the script 01 - TPC-H 1 GB Setup.sql and follow the instructions.
  3. Open 02 - TPC-H 1 GB Queries.sql to run queries on the 1 GB dataset.
  4. Open 03 - TPC-H 10 GB Queries.sql to test queries on a larger dataset.

Migrate Your Data to Exasol

After exploring the sample queries, navigate to the Database Migration folder to find scripts that help migrate data from various RDBMS systems to Exasol.

  • Use the available migration scripts to recreate the source database schemas, tables, and import your data.
  • Follow the instructions within the scripts for a smooth migration process.

This will help you get hands-on experience with Exasol’s high-speed and easy migration capabilities.

📌 Note: The DbVisualizer Community Edition allows only one SQL Worksheet at a time.
You can register for a free 1-month Pro trial to unlock additional features.

Managing the VM and Database

Starting the VM and Database

  1. Open VirtualBox or VMware.
  2. Select the Exasol VM and click Start.
  3. The Exasol database starts automatically when the VM boots.

Shutting Down the Database

  1. Run the Shutdown DB and VM desktop application.
  2. This safely shuts down both the database and VM.

Running Exasol in Headless Mode

If you don’t need the GUI:

1. Start the VM in Headless Mode

Open VirtualBox.
Right-click the Exasol VM and select Start > Headless Start.

2. Install a Query Editor on Your Host Machine

Install DbVisualizer or a SQL editor on your host machine.

3. Connect to the Database

Use the following details:
Host: localhost
Port: 8563
Ensure your query editor supports JDBC or ODBC.

4. Access the VM via SSH

To connect directly via SSH: ssh exasol@localhost -p 2222

Username: exasol
Password: exasol

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