Getting Started with IBM Netezza

Note: More recent version covering Netezza 7 is available here: http://szahariev.blogspot.com/2013/07/getting-started-with-ibm-puredata.html

Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, ETL, Data Analysis are terms we here more and more every day. But there is one name that becomes more and more popular: Netezza – state of the art data warehouse appliance offered by IBM. If you want to get started with Netezza, there is a good news: IBM distributes an emulator running under Windows that you can download and deploy at home. So here is what you need:

1. Download and install VMware player (free) or VMware workstation (paid)
2. Install VIX API (free) if using VMware player
3. Download the Netezza emulator by first requesting to join the IBM Netezza Developer Network (NDN) by following this link: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html/communityview?communityUuid=35ac05e2-4e00-42fe-b252-111e5f3ad8fa

When you join the IBM NDN you will find there not only the emulator but also the required product documentation that will guide you to master the product. Here is what you will get when the emulator is running:

Currently IBM does not offer Windows based GUI for querying the Netezza so you will have to connect to the Netezza host and use nzsql by using ssh client.

One 3rd party alternative to the nzsql is the Aginity Workbench for Netezza. It runs under Windows and provides GUI for querying the Netezza. The application will require a free registration after a 10 days trial period. The downside is that you will need a Netezza ODBC or OLE DB driver to connect to the Netezza host. Unfortunately these drivers can be downloaded only by IBM customers.