Teradata setup

Some core functionality may be limited. If you're interested in contributing, check out the source code in the repository listed in the next section.

profiles.yml file is for dbt Core users only

If you're using dbt Cloud, you don't need to create a profiles.yml file. This file is only for dbt Core users. To connect your data platform to dbt Cloud, refer to About data platforms.

• Maintained by: Teradata
• Authors: Teradata
• GitHub repo: Teradata/dbt-teradata
• PyPI package: dbt-teradata
• Slack channel: #db-teradata
• Supported dbt Core version: v0.21.0 and newer
• dbt Cloud support: Supported
• Minimum data platform version: n/a

Installing dbt-teradata

Use pip to install the adapter. Before 1.8, installing the adapter would automatically install dbt-core and any additional dependencies. Beginning in 1.8, installing an adapter does not automatically install dbt-core. This is because adapters and dbt Core versions have been decoupled from each other so we no longer want to overwrite existing dbt-core installations. Use the following command for installation:

Configuring dbt-teradata

For Teradata-specific configuration, please refer to Teradata configs.

Python compatibility

Plugin version	Python 3.9	Python 3.10	Python 3.11	Python 3.12
1.0.0.x	✅	❌	❌	❌
1.1.x.x	✅	✅	❌	❌
1.2.x.x	✅	✅	❌	❌
1.3.x.x	✅	✅	❌	❌
1.4.x.x	✅	✅	✅	❌
1.5.x	✅	✅	✅	❌
1.6.x	✅	✅	✅	❌
1.7.x	✅	✅	✅	❌
1.8.x	✅	✅	✅	✅

dbt dependent packages version compatibility

dbt-teradata	dbt-core	dbt-teradata-util	dbt-util
1.2.x	1.2.x	0.1.0	0.9.x or below
1.6.7	1.6.7	1.1.1	1.1.1
1.7.x	1.7.x	1.1.1	1.1.1
1.8.x	1.8.x	1.1.1	1.1.1
1.8.x	1.8.x	1.2.0	1.2.0
1.8.x	1.8.x	1.3.0	1.3.0

Connecting to Teradata

To connect to Teradata Vantage from dbt, you'll need to add a profile to your profiles.yml file. A Teradata profile conforms to the following syntax:

profiles.yml

<profile-name>:
  target: <target-name>
  outputs:
    <target-name>:
      type: teradata
      user: <username>
      password: <password>
      schema: <database-name>
      tmode: ANSI
      threads: [optional, 1 or more]
      #optional fields
      <field-name: <field-value>

Description of Teradata Profile Fields

The following fields are required:

Parameter	Default	Type	Description
user		string	Specifies the database username. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver USER connection parameter.
password		string	Specifies the database password. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver PASSWORD connection parameter.
schema		string	Specifies the initial database to use after logon, instead of the user's default database.
tmode	"ANSI"	string	Specifies the transaction mode. Only ANSI mode is currently supported.

The plugin also supports the following optional connection parameters:

Parameter	Default	Type	Description
account		string	Specifies the database account. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver ACCOUNT connection parameter.
browser		string	Specifies the command to open the browser for Browser Authentication, when logmech is BROWSER. Browser Authentication is supported for Windows and macOS. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver BROWSER connection parameter.
browser_tab_timeout	"5"	quoted integer	Specifies the number of seconds to wait before closing the browser tab after Browser Authentication is completed. The default is 5 seconds. The behavior is under the browser's control, and not all browsers support automatic closing of browser tabs.
browser_timeout	"180"	quoted integer	Specifies the number of seconds that the driver will wait for Browser Authentication to complete. The default is 180 seconds (3 minutes).
column_name	"false"	quoted boolean	Controls the behavior of cursor .description sequence name items. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver COLUMN_NAME connection parameter. False specifies that a cursor .description sequence name item provides the AS-clause name if available, or the column name if available, or the column title. True specifies that a cursor .description sequence name item provides the column name if available, but has no effect when StatementInfo parcel support is unavailable.
connect_failure_ttl	"0"	quoted integer	Specifies the time-to-live in seconds to remember the most recent connection failure for each IP address/port combination. The driver subsequently skips connection attempts to that IP address/port for the duration of the time-to-live. The default value of zero disables this feature. The recommended value is half the database restart time. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver CONNECT_FAILURE_TTL connection parameter.
connect_timeout	"10000"	quoted integer	Specifies the timeout in milliseconds for establishing a TCP socket connection. Specify 0 for no timeout. The default is 10 seconds (10000 milliseconds).
cop	"true"	quoted boolean	Specifies whether COP Discovery is performed. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver COP connection parameter.
coplast	"false"	quoted boolean	Specifies how COP Discovery determines the last COP hostname. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver COPLAST connection parameter. When coplast is false or omitted, or COP Discovery is turned off, then no DNS lookup occurs for the coplast hostname. When coplast is true, and COP Discovery is turned on, then a DNS lookup occurs for a coplast hostname.
port	"1025"	quoted integer	Specifies the database port number. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver DBS_PORT connection parameter.
encryptdata	"false"	quoted boolean	Controls encryption of data exchanged between the driver and the database. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver ENCRYPTDATA connection parameter.
fake_result_sets	"false"	quoted boolean	Controls whether a fake result set containing statement metadata precedes each real result set.
field_quote	"\""	string	Specifies a single character string used to quote fields in a CSV file.
field_sep	","	string	Specifies a single character string used to separate fields in a CSV file. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver FIELD_SEP connection parameter.
host		string	Specifies the database hostname.
https_port	"443"	quoted integer	Specifies the database port number for HTTPS/TLS connections. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver HTTPS_PORT connection parameter.
lob_support	"true"	quoted boolean	Controls LOB support. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver LOB_SUPPORT connection parameter.
log	"0"	quoted integer	Controls debug logging. Somewhat equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver LOG connection parameter. This parameter's behavior is subject to change in the future. This parameter's value is currently defined as an integer in which the 1-bit governs function and method tracing, the 2-bit governs debug logging, the 4-bit governs transmit and receive message hex dumps, and the 8-bit governs timing. Compose the value by adding together 1, 2, 4, and/or 8.
logdata		string	Specifies extra data for the chosen logon authentication method. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver LOGDATA connection parameter.
logon_timeout	"0"	quoted integer	Specifies the logon timeout in seconds. Zero means no timeout.
logmech	"TD2"	string	Specifies the logon authentication method. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver LOGMECH connection parameter. Possible values are TD2 (the default), JWT, LDAP, KRB5 for Kerberos, or TDNEGO.
max_message_body	"2097000"	quoted integer	Specifies the maximum Response Message size in bytes. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver MAX_MESSAGE_BODY connection parameter.
partition	"DBC/SQL"	string	Specifies the database partition. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver PARTITION connection parameter.
request_timeout	"0"	quoted integer	Specifies the timeout for executing each SQL request. Zero means no timeout.
retries	0	integer	Allows an adapter to automatically try again when the attempt to open a new connection on the database has a transient, infrequent error. This option can be set using the retries configuration. Default value is 0. The default wait period between connection attempts is one second. retry_timeout (seconds) option allows us to adjust this waiting period.
runstartup	"false"	quoted boolean	Controls whether the user's STARTUP SQL request is executed after logon. For more information, refer to User STARTUP SQL Request. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver RUNSTARTUP connection parameter. If retries is set to 3, the adapter will try to establish a new connection three times if an error occurs.
sessions		quoted integer	Specifies the number of data transfer connections for FastLoad or FastExport. The default (recommended) lets the database choose the appropriate number of connections. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SESSIONS connection parameter.
sip_support	"true"	quoted boolean	Controls whether StatementInfo parcel is used. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SIP_SUPPORT connection parameter.
sp_spl	"true"	quoted boolean	Controls whether stored procedure source code is saved in the database when a SQL stored procedure is created. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SP_SPL connection parameter.
sslca		string	Specifies the file name of a PEM file that contains Certificate Authority (CA) certificates for use with sslmode values VERIFY-CA or VERIFY-FULL. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLCA connection parameter.
sslcrc	"ALLOW"	string	Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLCRC connection parameter. Values are case-insensitive. • ALLOW provides "soft fail" behavior such that communication failures are ignored during certificate revocation checking. • REQUIRE mandates that certificate revocation checking must succeed.
sslcapath		string	Specifies a directory of PEM files that contain Certificate Authority (CA) certificates for use with sslmode values VERIFY-CA or VERIFY-FULL. Only files with an extension of .pem are used. Other files in the specified directory are not used. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLCAPATH connection parameter.
sslcipher		string	Specifies the TLS cipher for HTTPS/TLS connections. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLCIPHER connection parameter.
sslmode	"PREFER"	string	Specifies the mode for connections to the database. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLMODE connection parameter. • DISABLE disables HTTPS/TLS connections and uses only non-TLS connections. • ALLOW uses non-TLS connections unless the database requires HTTPS/TLS connections. • PREFER uses HTTPS/TLS connections unless the database does not offer HTTPS/TLS connections. • REQUIRE uses only HTTPS/TLS connections. • VERIFY-CA uses only HTTPS/TLS connections and verifies that the server certificate is valid and trusted. • VERIFY-FULL uses only HTTPS/TLS connections, verifies that the server certificate is valid and trusted, and verifies that the server certificate matches the database hostname.
sslprotocol	"TLSv1.2"	string	Specifies the TLS protocol for HTTPS/TLS connections. Equivalent to the Teradata JDBC Driver SSLPROTOCOL connection parameter.
teradata_values	"true"	quoted boolean	Controls whether str or a more specific Python data type is used for certain result set column value types.
query_band	"org=teradata-internal-telem;appname=dbt;"	string	Specifies the Query Band string to be set for each SQL request.

Refer to connection parameters for the full description of the connection parameters.

Supported features

Materializations

• view
• table
• ephemeral
• incremental

Incremental Materialization

The following incremental materialization strategies are supported:

• append (default)
• delete+insert
• merge
• valid_history (early access)

info

• To learn more about dbt incremental strategies, refer to the dbt incremental strategy documentation.
• To learn more about valid_history incremental strategy, refer to Teradata configs.

Commands

All dbt commands are supported.

Support for model contracts

Model contracts are supported with dbt-teradata v1.7.1 and onwards. Constraint support and enforcement in dbt-teradata:

Constraint type	Support Platform	enforcement
not_null	✅ Supported	✅ Enforced
primary_key	✅ Supported	✅ Enforced
foreign_key	✅ Supported	✅ Enforced
unique	✅ Supported	✅ Enforced
check	✅ Supported	✅ Enforced

Refer to Model contracts for more info.

Support for dbt-utils package

dbt-utils package is supported through teradata/teradata_utils dbt package. The package provides a compatibility layer between dbt_utils and dbt-teradata. See teradata_utils package for install instructions.

Cross DB macros

Starting with release 1.3, some macros were migrated from teradata-dbt-utils dbt package to the connector. Refer the following table for the macros supported by the connector.

For using cross-DB macros, teradata-utils as a macro namespace will not be used, as cross-DB macros have been migrated from teradata-utils to Dbt-Teradata.

Compatibility

Macro Group	Macro Name	Status	Comment
Cross-database macros	current_timestamp	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	dateadd	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	datediff	✅	custom macro provided, see compatibility note
Cross-database macros	split_part	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	date_trunc	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	hash	✅	custom macro provided, see compatibility note
Cross-database macros	replace	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	type_string	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	last_day	✅	no customization needed, see compatibility note
Cross-database macros	width_bucket	✅	no customization
Cross-database macros	generate_series	✅	custom macro provided
Cross-database macros	date_spine	✅	no customization

examples for cross DB macros

replace

{{ dbt.replace("string_text_column", "old_chars", "new_chars") }} {{ replace('abcgef', 'g', 'd') }}

date_trunc

{{ dbt.date_trunc("date_part", "date") }} {{ dbt.date_trunc("DD", "'2018-01-05 12:00:00'") }}

datediff

datediff macro in teradata supports difference between dates. Differece between timestamps is not supported.

hash

Hash macro needs an md5 function implementation. Teradata doesn't support md5 natively. You need to install a User Defined Function (UDF):

1. Download the md5 UDF implementation from Teradata (registration required): https://downloads.teradata.com/download/extensibility/md5-message-digest-udf.
2. Unzip the package and go to src directory.
3. Start up bteq and connect to your database.
4. Create database GLOBAL_FUNCTIONS that will host the UDF. You can't change the database name as it's hardcoded in the macro:

   CREATE DATABASE GLOBAL_FUNCTIONS AS PERMANENT = 60e6, SPOOL = 120e6;
5. Create the UDF. Replace <CURRENT_USER> with your current database user:

   GRANT CREATE FUNCTION ON GLOBAL_FUNCTIONS TO <CURRENT_USER>;
   DATABASE GLOBAL_FUNCTIONS;
   .run file = hash_md5.btq
6. Grant permissions to run the UDF with grant option.

   GRANT EXECUTE FUNCTION ON GLOBAL_FUNCTIONS TO PUBLIC WITH GRANT OPTION;

last_day

last_day in teradata_utils, unlike the corresponding macro in dbt_utils, doesn't support quarter datepart.

Limitations

Transaction mode

Both ANSI and TERA modes are now supported in dbt-teradata. TERA mode's support is introduced with dbt-teradata 1.7.1, it is an initial implementation.

TERA transaction mode

This is an initial implementation of the TERA transaction mode and may not support some use cases. We highly recommend validating all records or transformations using this mode to avoid unexpected issues or errors.

Credits

The adapter was originally created by Doug Beatty. Teradata took over the adapter in January 2022. We are grateful to Doug for founding the project and accelerating the integration of dbt + Teradata.

License

The adapter is published using Apache-2.0 License. Refer to the terms and conditions to understand items such as creating derivative work and the support model.