Can Vertica vsql have a failover host like the JDBC client

I am trying to connect to Vertica nodes through vsql using the -h parameter to specify the host IP. However, I want to specify failover nodes.

According to the documentation backup hosts can be provided as a property in JDBC connection.

How can I implement the same through vsql?

Solution

edd is correct, you can use -B SERVER:PORT. Also, if you have native connection load balancing set, you can use the -C option. This will allow the Vertica native load balancer to choose a host for you.

To set the load balancer you run:

SELECT SET_LOAD_BALANCE_POLICY('ROUNDROBIN');

Then when you connect, you use the -C option, and you will see that Vertica has selected a new host.

$ vsql -h host01 -U dbadmin -C
Welcome to vsql, the Vertica Analytic Database interactive terminal.

Type:  \h or \? for help with vsql commands
       \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
       \q to quit

INFO: Connected using a load-balanced connection.
INFO: Connected to host02 at port 5433.

dbadmin=>

Using -C should work if the node is down on the specified host, as long as the Vertica agent is still running on that host.