ORDER BY clause treatment of NULLs

The default value of hive.default.nulls.last in CDP differs from the default value in CDH, which causes a behavioral difference in the ORDER BY clause, including ORDER BY within a RANK function.

Before Upgrade to CDP

In CDH, hive.default.nulls.last is false. In ascending (ASC) order, NULL appears first. In descending (DESC) order, NULL appears last.

After Upgrade to CDP

In CDP, hive.default.nulls.last is true. In ascending (ASC) order, NULL appears last. In descending (DESC) order, NULL appears first (HIVE-23706),

Action Required

In CDP, set hive.default.nulls.last to false for legacy behavior. For more information, see Hive default null sorting order for DESC is NULL FIRST.