Using the Hive Schema Tool

Schema Version Verification

Hive now records the schema version in the metastore database and verifies that the metastore schema version is compatible with the Hive binaries that are going to access the metastore. The Hive properties to implicitly create or alter the existing schema are disabled by default. Hence, Hive will not attempt to change the metastore schema implicitly. When you execute a Hive query against an old schema, it will fail to access the metastore displaying an error message as follows:

$ build/dist/bin/hive -e "show tables"
FAILED: Execution Error, return code 1 from org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.DDLTask. java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.HiveMetaStoreClient

The error log will contain an entry similar to the following:

...
Caused by: MetaException(message:Version information not found in metastore. )
        at org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.ObjectStore.checkSchema(ObjectStore.java:5638)
...

To suppress the schema check and allow the metastore to implicitly modify the schema, you need to set the hive.metastore.schema.verification configuration property to false in hive-site.xml.

Using schematool

Use the Hive schematool to initialize the metastore schema for the current Hive version or to upgrade the schema from an older version. The tool tries to find the current schema from the metastore if it is available there.

The schematool determines the SQL scripts that are required to initialize or upgrade the schema and then executes those scripts against the backend database. The metastore database connection information such as JDBC URL, JDBC driver and database credentials are extracted from the Hive configuration. You can provide alternate database credentials if needed.

The following options are available as part of the schematool package. 
$ schematool -help
usage: schemaTool
 -dbType <databaseType>             Metastore database type                 
 -dryRun                            List SQL scripts (no execute)                                       
 -help                              Print this message
 -info                              Show config and schema details
 -initSchema                        Schema initialization
 -initSchemaTo <initTo>             Schema initialization to a version
 -passWord <password>               Override config file password
 -upgradeSchema                     Schema upgrade
 -upgradeSchemaFrom <upgradeFrom>   Schema upgrade from a version
 -userName <user>                   Override config file user name
 -verbose                           Only print SQL statements
The dbType option should always be specified and can be one of the following: 
 derby|mysql|postgres|oracle

Usage Examples

  • Initialize your metastore to the current schema for a new Hive setup using the initSchema option. 
    $ schematool -dbType derby -initSchema
Metastore connection URL:        jdbc:derby:;databaseName=metastore_db;create=true
Metastore Connection Driver :    org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
Metastore connection User:       APP
Starting metastore schema initialization to <new_version>
Initialization script hive-schema-<new_version>.derby.sql
Initialization script completed
schemaTool completed
  • Get schema information using the info option. 
    $ schematool -dbType derby -info
Metastore connection URL:        jdbc:derby:;databaseName=metastore_db;create=true
Metastore Connection Driver :    org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
Metastore connection User:       APP
Hive distribution version:       <new_version>
Required schema version:         <new_version>
Metastore schema version:        <new_version>
schemaTool completed
  • If you attempt to get schema information from older metastores that did not store version information, the tool will report an error as follows. 
    $ schematool -dbType derby -info
Metastore connection URL:        jdbc:derby:;databaseName=metastore_db;create=true
Metastore Connection Driver :    org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
Metastore connection User:       APP
Hive distribution version:       <new_version>
Required schema version:         <new_version>
org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.HiveMetaException: Failed to get schema version.
*** schemaTool failed ***
  • You can upgrade schema from a CDH 4 release by specifying the upgradeSchemaFrom option. 
    $ schematool -dbType derby -upgradeSchemaFrom 0.10.0
Metastore connection URL:        jdbc:derby:;databaseName=metastore_db;create=true
Metastore Connection Driver :    org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
Metastore connection User:       APP
Starting upgrade metastore schema from version 0.10.0 to <new_version>
Upgrade script upgrade-0.10.0-to-<new_version>.derby.sql
Completed upgrade-0.10.0-to-<new_version>.derby.sql
Upgrade script upgrade-0.11.0-to-<new_version>.derby.sql
Completed upgrade-0.11.0-to-<new_version>.derby.sql
schemaTool completed
    The Hive versions of the older CDH releases are:
    CDH Releases Hive Version

    CDH 3

    0.7.0

    CDH 4.0

    0.8.0

    CDH 4.1

    0.9.0

    CDH 4.2 and later

    0.10.0
  • If you want to find out all the required scripts for a schema upgrade, use the dryRun option. 
    $ build/dist/bin/schematool -dbType derby -upgradeSchemaFrom 0.7.0 -dryRun
13/09/27 17:06:31 WARN conf.Configuration: hive.server2.enable.impersonation is deprecated. Instead, use hive.server2.enable.doAs
Metastore connection URL:        jdbc:derby:;databaseName=metastore_db;create=true
Metastore Connection Driver :    org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
Metastore connection User:       APP
Starting upgrade metastore schema from version 0.7.0 to <new_version>
Upgrade script upgrade-0.7.0-to-0.8.0.derby.sql
Upgrade script upgrade-0.8.0-to-0.9.0.derby.sql
Upgrade script upgrade-0.9.0-to-0.10.0.derby.sql
Upgrade script upgrade-0.10.0-to-0.11.0.derby.sql
Upgrade script upgrade-0.11.0-to-<new_version>.derby.sql
schemaTool completed