How can I ensure that certain columns are ready at startup?

HEAVY.AI uses a smart cache mechanism that caches parts of columns(chunks) into main memory or GPU memory.

You can use the command line argument db-query-list to provide a path to a file that contains SELECT queries you want to be performed at start-up.

Begin the file with the line USER [super-user-name] [database-name]. For example:

USER admin heavyai

Specify columns that you want to cache in a WHERE condition that does not have any other filters. For example, in an employee database, a query to cache salary might be the following.

select count(*) from employee where salary > 1;

This query attempts to fit the entire salary column into the hottest parts of the cache. Try to keep the query as simple as possible in order to cache the entire column(s).

Note: A query such as Select * from employee; does not cache anything of interest since there is nothing to "process."