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AnalyticDB:Use external tables to import HDFS data

Last Updated:Aug 25, 2026

AnalyticDB for MySQL supports using external tables to import and export data. This topic describes how to use an external table to query data from the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and import the data into AnalyticDB for MySQL.

Prerequisites

  • Your AnalyticDB for MySQL cluster must run kernel version 3.1.4 or later.

    Note

    To view and update the minor version, go to the Configuration Information section on the Cluster Information page in the AnalyticDB for MySQL console.

  • The HDFS data file is in CSV, Parquet, or ORC format.

  • An HDFS cluster is created and the data to be imported is prepared in an HDFS folder. This topic uses the hdfs_import_test_data.csv folder as an example.

  • The following service access ports are configured in the HDFS cluster for the AnalyticDB for MySQL cluster:

    • namenode: Reads and writes file system metadata. You can configure the port number in the fs.defaultFS parameter. The default port is 8020.

      For more information about the configuration, see core-default.xml.

    • datanode: Reads and writes data. You can configure the port number in the dfs.datanode.address parameter. The default port is 50010.

      For more information about the configuration, see hdfs-default.xml.

  • AnalyticDB for MySQL Data Warehouse Edition in elastic mode supports Elastic Network Interface (ENI) access.

    Important
    • Log on to the AnalyticDB for MySQL console. On the Cluster Information page, in the Network Information section, turn on the Elastic Network Interface (ENI) switch.

    • Enabling or disabling the ENI network interrupts database connections for about 2 minutes. During this time, read and write operations are unavailable. Evaluate the impact before you enable or disable the ENI network.

Procedure

  1. Create a destination database. In this example, the destination database in the AnalyticDB for MySQL cluster is named adb_demo.

    CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS adb_demo;    
  2. In the adb_demo destination database, use the CREATE TABLE statement to create an external table in CSV, Parquet, or ORC format.

  3. Create a destination table.

    Use one of the following statements to create a destination table in the adb_demo destination database to store data imported from HDFS:

    • Create a destination table for a standard external table. In this example, the destination table is named adb_hdfs_import_test. The syntax is as follows:

      CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS adb_hdfs_import_test
      (
          uid string,
          other string
      )
      DISTRIBUTED BY HASH(uid);
    • When you create a destination table for a partitioned external table, you must define both standard columns, such as uid and other, and partition key columns, such as p1, p2, and p3. In this example, the destination table is named adb_hdfs_import_parquet_partition. The syntax is as follows:

      CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS adb_hdfs_import_parquet_partition
      (
          uid string,
          other string,
          p1 date,
          p2 int,
          p3 varchar
      )
      DISTRIBUTED BY HASH(uid);
  4. Import data from HDFS into the destination AnalyticDB for MySQL cluster.

    Select a method to import data as needed. The syntax for importing data into a partitioned table is the same as for a standard table. The following examples use a standard table:

    • Method 1 (Recommended): Use INSERT OVERWRITE to import data. This method supports batch import and delivers high performance. Data is visible after a successful import. If the import fails, the data is rolled back. The following code provides an example:

      INSERT OVERWRITE adb_hdfs_import_test
      SELECT * FROM hdfs_import_test_external_table;
    • Method 2: Use INSERT INTO to import data. Inserted data is available for real-time queries. Use this method for small amounts of data. The following code provides an example:

      INSERT INTO adb_hdfs_import_test
      SELECT * FROM hdfs_import_test_external_table;
    • Method 3: Run an asynchronous task to import data. The following code provides an example:

      SUBMIT JOB INSERT OVERWRITE adb_hdfs_import_test
      SELECT * FROM hdfs_import_test_external_table;

      The following result is returned:

      +---------------------------------------+
      | job_id                                |
      +---------------------------------------+
      | 2020112122202917203100908203303****** |
      +---------------------------------------+

      You can also check the status of the asynchronous task based on the job_id. For more information, see Asynchronously submit an import task.

What to do next

After the import is complete, log on to the adb_demo destination database in your AnalyticDB for MySQL cluster. Run the following statement to verify that the data was imported from the source table into the adb_hdfs_import_test destination table:

SELECT * FROM adb_hdfs_import_test LIMIT 100;

Create an HDFS external table

  • Create an external table for a CSV file

    The statement is as follows:

    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS hdfs_import_test_external_table
    (
        uid string,
        other string
    )
    ENGINE='HDFS'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
        "format":"csv",
        "delimiter":",",
        "hdfs_url":"hdfs://172.17.***.***:9000/adb/hdfs_import_test_csv_data/hdfs_import_test_data.csv"
    }';

    Parameter

    Required

    Description

    ENGINE='HDFS'

    Required

    The storage engine for the external table. This example uses HDFS.

    TABLE_PROPERTIES

    The method that AnalyticDB for MySQL uses to access HDFS data.

    format

    The format of the data file. To create an external table for a CSV file, set this parameter to csv.

    delimiter

    The column delimiter for the CSV data file. This example uses a comma (,).

    hdfs_url

    The absolute address of the destination data file or folder in the HDFS cluster. The address must start with hdfs://.

    Example: hdfs://172.17.***.***:9000/adb/hdfs_import_test_csv_data/hdfs_import_test_data.csv

    partition_column

    Optional

    The partition key columns of the external table. Separate multiple columns with commas (,). For information about how to define partition key columns, see Create a partitioned HDFS external table.

    compress_type

    The compression type of the data file. CSV files support only the Gzip compression type.

    skip_header_line_count

    The number of header rows to skip at the beginning of the file during data import. The first row of a CSV file is the table header. If you set this parameter to 1, the first row is automatically skipped during data import.

    The default value is 0, which means no rows are skipped.

    hdfs_ha_host_port

    If the High Availability (HA) feature is configured for the HDFS cluster, configure the hdfs_ha_host_port parameter when you create an external table. The format is ip1:port1,ip2:port2. The IP addresses and ports are for the primary and secondary namenode instances.

    Example: 192.168.xx.xx:8020,192.168.xx.xx:8021

  • Create an external table for a Parquet or ORC file

    The following statement shows how to create an external table for a Parquet file:

    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS hdfs_import_test_external_table
    (
        uid string,
        other string
    )
    ENGINE='HDFS'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
        "format":"parquet",
        "hdfs_url":"hdfs://172.17.***.***:9000/adb/hdfs_import_test_parquet_data/"
    }';

    Parameter

    Required

    Description

    ENGINE='HDFS'

    Required

    The storage engine for the external table. This example uses HDFS.

    TABLE_PROPERTIES

    The method that AnalyticDB for MySQL uses to access HDFS data.

    format

    The format of the data file.

    • To create an external table for a Parquet file, set this parameter to parquet.

    • To create an external table for an ORC file, set this parameter to orc.

    hdfs_url

    The absolute address of the destination data file or folder in the HDFS cluster. The address must start with hdfs://.

    partition_column

    Optional

    The partition key columns of the table. Separate multiple columns with commas (,). For information about how to define partition key columns, see Create a partitioned HDFS external table.

    hdfs_ha_host_port

    If the HA feature is configured for the HDFS cluster, configure the hdfs_ha_host_port parameter when you create an external table. The format is ip1:port1,ip2:port2. The IP addresses and ports are for the primary and secondary namenode instances.

    Example: 192.168.xx.xx:8020,192.168.xx.xx:8021

    Note
    • The column names in the `CREATE TABLE` statement for the external table must be identical to the column names in the Parquet or ORC file but are case-insensitive. The order of the columns must also be the same.

    • When you create an external table, you can select only some columns from the Parquet or ORC file to be columns in the external table. Unselected columns are not imported.

    • If the `CREATE TABLE` statement for the external table includes a column that does not exist in the Parquet or ORC file, queries for that column return NULL.

    Data type mappings between Parquet files and AnalyticDB for MySQL

    Parquet primitive data type

    Parquet logicalType

    Data type in AnalyticDB for MySQL

    BOOLEAN

    None

    BOOLEAN

    INT32

    INT_8

    TINYINT

    INT32

    INT_16

    SMALLINT

    INT32

    None

    INT or INTEGER

    INT64

    None

    BIGINT

    FLOAT

    None

    FLOAT

    DOUBLE

    None

    DOUBLE

    • FIXED_LEN_BYTE_ARRAY

    • BINARY

    • INT64

    • INT32

    DECIMAL

    DECIMAL

    BINARY

    UTF-8

    • VARCHAR

    • STRING

    • JSON (if the Parquet column is known to be in JSON format)

    INT32

    DATE

    DATE

    INT64

    TIMESTAMP_MILLIS

    TIMESTAMP or DATETIME

    INT96

    None

    TIMESTAMP or DATETIME

    Important

    External tables for Parquet files do not support the STRUCT type. If you use this type, the table creation fails.

    Data type mappings between ORC files and AnalyticDB for MySQL

    Data type in ORC files

    Data type in AnalyticDB for MySQL

    BOOLEAN

    BOOLEAN

    BYTE

    TINYINT

    SHORT

    SMALLINT

    INT

    INT or INTEGER

    LONG

    BIGINT

    DECIMAL

    DECIMAL

    FLOAT

    FLOAT

    DOUBLE

    DOUBLE

    • BINARY

    • STRING

    • VARCHAR

    • VARCHAR

    • STRING

    • JSON (if the ORC column is known to be in JSON format)

    TIMESTAMP

    TIMESTAMP or DATETIME

    DATE

    DATE

    Important

    External tables for ORC files do not support complex types such as LIST, STRUCT, or UNION. If you use these types, the table creation fails. You can create an external table for an ORC file if a column uses the MAP type, but queries on that table will fail.

Create a partitioned HDFS external table

HDFS supports partitioning data in Parquet, CSV, and ORC file formats. Partitioned data forms a hierarchical directory on HDFS. In the following example, p1 is the level-1 partition, p2 is the level-2 partition, and p3 is the level-3 partition:

parquet_partition_classic/
├── p1=2020-01-01
│   ├── p2=4
│   │   ├── p3=SHANGHAI
│   │   │   ├── 000000_0
│   │   │   └── 000000_1
│   │   └── p3=SHENZHEN
│   │       └── 000000_0
│   └── p2=6
│       └── p3=SHENZHEN
│           └── 000000_0
├── p1=2020-01-02
│   └── p2=8
│       ├── p3=SHANGHAI
│       │   └── 000000_0
│       └── p3=SHENZHEN
│           └── 000000_0
└── p1=2020-01-03
    └── p2=6
        ├── p2=HANGZHOU
        └── p3=SHENZHEN
            └── 000000_0

The following statement shows how to create an external table with specified columns for a Parquet file:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS hdfs_parquet_partition_table
(
  uid varchar,
  other varchar,
  p1 date,
  p2 int,
  p3 varchar
)
ENGINE='HDFS'
TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
  "hdfs_url":"hdfs://172.17.***.**:9000/adb/parquet_partition_classic/",
  "format":"parquet",  //To create an external table for a CSV or ORC file, change the value of format to csv or orc.
  "partition_column":"p1, p2, p3"  //For partitioned HDFS data, if you want to query data by partition, you must specify the partition_column parameter in the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statement when you import data to AnalyticDB for MySQL.
}';
Note
  • The partition_column parameter in TABLE_PROPERTIES specifies the partition key columns, such as p1, p2, and p3. The partition key columns must be declared in the partition_column parameter in order from level-1 to level-3 partitions.

  • The column definition must include the partition key columns, such as p1, p2, and p3, and their data types. The partition key columns must be placed at the end of the column definition.

  • The order of the partition key columns in the column definition must match the order in the partition_column parameter.

  • Partition key columns support the following data types: BOOLEAN, TINYINT, SMALLINT, INT, INTEGER, BIGINT, FLOAT, DOUBLE, DECIMAL, VARCHAR, STRING, DATE, and TIMESTAMP.

  • When you query data, partition key columns are displayed and used in the same way as other data columns.

  • If you do not specify the format, the default format is CSV.

  • For more information about other parameters, see Parameter description.

Create external cloud storage external tables

AWS S3

Parameters

Parameter

Description

hdfs_url

The S3 file directory. The prefix must be s3a.

s3.access_key

The S3 access key. For information about how to manage access keys, see Manage access keys for IAM users.

s3.secret_key

The S3 secret key.

s3.endpoint

The S3 endpoint.

Permission requirements

Scenario

Minimum permissions

Recommended policy

Read data from an S3 external table

  • GetObject

  • ListBucket

We recommend that you use the AmazonS3ReadOnlyAccess policy:

{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
   "Statement": [
     {
       "Effect": "Allow",
       "Action": [
         "s3:Get*",
         "s3:List*",
         "s3:Describe*",
         "s3-object-lambda:Get*",
         "s3-object-lambda:List*"
       ],
       "Resource": "*"
     }
   ]
}

Export data to an S3 external table

  • GetObject

  • PutObject

  • DeleteObject

  • ListBucket

We recommend that you use the AmazonS3FullAccess policy:

{
   "Version": "2012-10-17",
   "Statement": [
     {
       "Effect": "Allow",
       "Action": [
         "s3:",
         "s3-object-lambda:"
       ],
       "Resource": "*"
     }
   ]
}

Examples

  • Create a non-partitioned external table

    CREATE TABLE t1(c1 int, c2 int)
    ENGINE='hdfs'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
      "format" : "parquet",
      "hdfs_url" : "s3a://adbtest/t1",
      "s3.access_key":"AKIA****************45P",
      "s3.secret_key":"XH41************************l0q",
      "s3.endpoint":"s3.cn-north-1.amazonaws.com.cn"
    }'
  • Create a partitioned external table

    CREATE TABLE t1(c1 int, c2 int, p1 int)
    ENGINE='hdfs'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
      "partition_column":"p1",
      "format" : "parquet",
      "hdfs_url" : "s3a://adbtest/t1",
      "s3.access_key":"AKIAS************5P",
      "s3.secret_key":"XH41pLbBbFb**************xDl0q",
      "s3.endpoint":"s3.cn-north-1.amazonaws.com.cn"
    }'

Azure Blob Storage

Parameters

Parameter

Required

Description

hdfs_url

Required

The Azure file directory. Format: abfss://{container_name}@{account_name}.{domain}/test.

azure.endpoint

Required

The Azure endpoint.

azure.accesskey

Required for Shared Key authentication

The Azure access key. For information about how to view access keys, see storage-account-keys-manage.

azure.sas.token

Required for SAS authentication

Required when you use SAS to access Azure external tables.

Permission requirements

Scenario

Minimum permissions

Import data from an Azure external table

  • Read

  • List

Export data to an Azure external table

  • Read

  • Add

  • Create

  • Write

  • Delete

  • List

You can go to the target storage account and click Settings > Access policies to edit policies in the Access policies for storage section.

Examples

  • Use Shared Key authentication.

    CREATE TABLE t2(c1 int, c2 int, p1 int)
    ENGINE='hdfs'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
      "partition_column":"p1",
      "format" : "parquet",
      "hdfs_url" : "abfss://{container_name}@{account_name}.{domain}/test",
      "azure.accesskey":"qss33o/fQ2lCCQ+d7******************************8fxq+7dbdzuPuZji+AStCERlsg==",
      "azure.endpoint":"{account_name}.{domain}"
    }'
  • Use SAS authentication.

    CREATE TABLE t2(c1 int, c2 int, p1 int)
    ENGINE='hdfs'
    TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
      "partition_column":"p1",
      "format" : "parquet",
      "hdfs_url" : "abfss://{container_name}@{account_name}.{domain}/tb1",
      "azure.sas.token":"sv=2024-11-04&ss=bfqt&srt=sco&sp=rwdlacupx&se=2026-04-02T20:01:51Z&st=2025-04-02T12:01:51Z&spr=https,http&sig=r6a3************p7rM%3D",
      "azure.endpoint":"{account_name}.{domain}"
    }'

Google Cloud Storage

Parameters

Parameter

Description

hdfs_url

The GCS file directory.

gcs.project_id

The project_id of the Google Cloud service account.

gcs.client_email

The client_email of the Google Cloud service account.

gcs.token_uri

The token_uri of the Google Cloud service account.

gcs.private_key_id

The private_key_id of the Google Cloud service account.

gcs.private_key

The private_key of the Google Cloud service account.

After you create a service account, a JSON file is generated. Fill in the corresponding keys from the JSON file into the parameters. For information about how to create a service account, see Create a service account.

Permission requirements

Scenario

Minimum permissions

Import data from a GCS external table

Storage Legacy Bucket Reader

Export data to a GCS external table

Storage Legacy Object Owner

For information about how to control access permissions for GCS buckets, see Access Control.

Examples

CREATE TABLE t2(c1 int, c2 int, p1 int)
ENGINE='hdfs'
TABLE_PROPERTIES='{
  "partition_column":"p1",
  "format" : "parquet",
  "hdfs_url" : "gs://adbtest2/tbls/table1",
  "gcs.project_id":"test-project",
  "gcs.client_email":"adbtest@test-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
  "gcs.token_uri":"https://oauth2.googleapis.cn/token",
  "gcs.private_key_id":"xxxx",
  "gcs.private_key":"-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFA****-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n"
}'