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Introduction to ClickHouse: Features and Getting Started

Introduction to ClickHouse: Features and Getting Started
Hostman Team
Technical writer
ClickHouse
18.09.2024
Reading time: 6 min

In this beginner’s guide we will talk about ClickHouse, describe its advantages and use cases, and explain how to get started with ClickHouse. However, before we start, we should answer the most important question: what is ClickHouse?

ClickHouse is a columnar database management system (DBMS) designed for processing analytical queries with high performance. It is optimized for handling large volumes of data, providing fast aggregation, filtering, and sorting queries. 

Unlike traditional relational databases that store data in rows, ClickHouse organizes information by columns, making it highly efficient for tasks like data aggregation, filtering, and sorting. It was developed to handle massive datasets, enabling companies to perform complex analytics in record time.

ClickHouse is open-source, scalable, and versatile as it supports multiple data formats and can be used for handling almost everything, from financial analysis to blockchain monitoring.

Features and Benefits of ClickHouse

ClickHouse has several key features that make it an attractive option for working with large datasets. Here are some of its main benefits:

  • Columnar Data Storage: This allows for efficient data compression and faster query execution by operating on columns. It makes ClickHouse ideal for analytical tasks like data aggregation, report generation, time-series analysis, and other complex queries.

  • High Performance: The speed of queries related to aggregation, filtering, and sorting makes ClickHouse a perfect system for analytical tasks.

  • Scalability: ClickHouse has a scalable architecture that allows data and queries to be distributed across multiple nodes, ensuring system availability without performance loss under high loads.

  • Support for Various Data Formats: ClickHouse supports CSV, TSV, JSON, and several other formats, making it a versatile tool for handling various data types.

  • Open Source and Free: As open-source software, ClickHouse allows customization and flexible configuration to suit specific needs.

Thanks to these features, ClickHouse is widely used in large-scale projects to process large volumes of data and complex analytical tasks.

ClickHouse Use Cases

Here are the main types of tasks where the free ClickHouse performs as well as, or even better than, many paid competitors:

  • Web Application Analytics: ClickHouse is used to store and process large volumes of data about user activity on websites, their preferences, time spent on pages, and other metrics. The DBMS enables complex analytical queries to identify trends, optimize user experience, and support business decisions.

  • Digital Advertising Optimization and Management: ClickHouse stores data on ad campaigns, their effectiveness, target audience, and other parameters. Analyzing this data helps optimize ad spend, improve efficiency, and increase conversion rates.

  • Operational Log Analysis from Multiple Sources: In this case, ClickHouse is used to collect, store, and analyze data about system performance, errors, and events. This helps quickly identify issues and improve system reliability.

  • Security Log Monitoring: ClickHouse is ideal for storing event logs and security audits. Comprehensive log data analysis helps detect potential threats, respond to incidents promptly, and ensure information system security. It works effectively with AI that detects patterns in the data, which humans might struggle to find, indicating possible network intrusions. These features are used by CloudFlare developers, who rely on ClickHouse to store data on traffic, requests, blocks, and other network parameters.

  • Financial Analysis: ClickHouse is used to store financial data, reports, transactions, and other company operations. Analyzing this data helps make informed financial strategies, investments, and budgeting decisions.

  • Product Quality Analysis Based on Incoming Data: When manufacturing complex electronic components and other high-tech devices, ClickHouse is invaluable because it can simultaneously receive and process information on thousands of parameters affecting the quality of produced components.

  • Blockchain Analytics: In this field, ClickHouse is used to store blockchain blocks, transactions, contracts, and other blockchain system data. Analyzing this data helps track transactions, verify the integrity of the blockchain, and ensure network security.

This list shows that ClickHouse is a universal DBMS that can be used to solve a wide variety of tasks.

Installing ClickHouse

ClickHouse is initially designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS. You can install ClickHouse on your local machine or a cloud server.

Quick Deployment

The easiest way to quickly deploy ClickHouse is to run the following command, which will determine if your operating system is supported, and then download the appropriate ClickHouse file:

curl https://clickhouse.com/ | sh

If there are no conflicts with your system, you can proceed to start the server using the following command:

./clickhouse server

This command will first create all necessary directories and files, after which the server will start. Connect to the server by opening a new terminal and running:

./clickhouse client

The system will return information about the client version and the connection status via localhost (the status should be "connected"). You can now start working with the database by sending SQL queries.

Installing ClickHouse on Linux Ubuntu

To install ClickHouse on Ubuntu or Debian using deb packages via sudo, follow these sequential commands in the terminal:

apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates dirmngrapt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates dirmngr
apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 8919F6BD2B48D754
echo "deb https://packages.clickhouse.com/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/clickhouse.list
apt-get update
apt-get install -y clickhouse-server clickhouse-client
service clickhouse-server start
clickhouse-client

Once the system confirms the installation, you can start working with databases offline.

The Easiest Way to Install ClickHouse

If you don't want to spend time entering commands for installation and want to start working with ClickHouse right away, Hostman offers a great solution. Register on the website or log in to your Hostman account and deploy ClickHouse in the cloud with a few clicks.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Select Databases from the left menu in the control panel and click Create database.

  2. Select ClickHouse and scroll down to choose parameters like region, pricing plan, network, and additional services (such as creating a backup). Then click Order.

91bd8b4e 59fd 4a67 9fc3 A6319038ad8e

Your ClickHouse database will be deployed and ready to use in a few minutes.

That's it! Now you know all the ways to install ClickHouse for remote work. For more information on how to work with this database, check out ClickHouse docs.

ClickHouse
18.09.2024
Reading time: 6 min

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