Step 2: Try example queries using the query editors

When Amazon Redshift is creating your Amazon Redshift cluster, it automatically uploads the sample dataset Tickit. Cluster creation might take a few minutes to complete. After creation completes, the cluster status becomes ACTIVE. You can view the sample Tickit tables from the sample dataset.

Using the query editor

You can view the sample Tickit tables in the query editor v2 by choosing the cluster, the dev database, and public schema.

After the Amazon Redshift cluster is created, in Connect to Amazon Redshift clusters, choose Query data.

From the query editor v2, connect to a database, and choose the cluster name in the tree-view panel. If prompted, enter the connection parameters.

When you connect to a cluster and its databases, you provide a Database name and User name. You also provide parameters required for one of the following authentication methods:

Database user name and password

With this method, also provide a Password for the database that you are connecting to.

Temporary credentials

With this method, query editor v2, generates a temporary password to connect to the database.

When you select a cluster with query editor v2, depending on the context, you can create, edit, and delete connections using the context (right-click) menu.

By default, Amazon Redshift creates a default database named dev and a default schema named public. To view the individual data files of the sample dataset, choose a cluster, go to the query editor v2, and choose the dev database, public schema, then Tables.

Alternatively, in the navigation pane, choose Clusters and the cluster you want query data on. Then under Query data, choose either Query in query editor or Query in query editor v2 to query data in your specified query editor.

Trying example queries

Try some example queries in one of the query editors, as shown following. For more information on working with the SELECT command, see SELECT in the Amazon Redshift Database Developer Guide.

-- Find total sales on a given calendar date.
SELECT sum(qtysold) 
FROM   sales, date 
WHERE  sales.dateid = date.dateid 
AND    caldate = '2008-01-05';

-- Find top 10 buyers by quantity.
SELECT firstname, lastname, total_quantity 
FROM   (SELECT buyerid, sum(qtysold) total_quantity
        FROM  sales
        GROUP BY buyerid
        ORDER BY total_quantity desc limit 10) Q, users
WHERE Q.buyerid = userid
ORDER BY Q.total_quantity desc;

-- Find events in the 99.9 percentile in terms of all time gross sales.
SELECT eventname, total_price 
FROM  (SELECT eventid, total_price, ntile(1000) over(order by total_price desc) as percentile 
       FROM (SELECT eventid, sum(pricepaid) total_price
             FROM   sales
             GROUP BY eventid)) Q, event E
       WHERE Q.eventid = E.eventid
       AND percentile = 1
ORDER BY total_price desc;

After you complete the steps in this tutorial, you can use Additional resources to find more in-depth information. This information can help you plan, deploy, and maintain your clusters, and work with the data in your data warehouse.

You can also try the Bringing your own data to Amazon Redshift tutorial to create a cluster with your own dataset.