# A gentle introduction to the Hive connector

DevFeed: [A gentle introduction to the Hive connector](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-gentle-introduction-to-the-hive-connector-8654.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://trino.io/blog/2020/10/20/intro-to-hive-connector.html>)

Author: Brian Olsen

Published: 2020-10-20T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Trino Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/trino-blog.md>)

Topics: [Hadoop](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hadoop.md>), [Amazon S3](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon-s3.md>), [Cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>), [Apache Spark](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/spark.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/systems.md>), [parquet](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/parquet.md>), [CSV](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/csv.md>), [JSON](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/json.md>)

Tags: [amazon-s3](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon-s3.md>), [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud.md>), [cloud-storage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud-storage.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data.md>), [hadoop](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hadoop.md>), [json](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/json.md>), [object-storage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/object-storage.md>), [parquet](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/parquet.md>), [s3](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/s3.md>), [spark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/spark.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>)

## AI overview

This article gently explains Trino's Hive connector, clarifying that it reads data organized according to Hive conventions without using the Hive runtime. It introduces the main components of Hive architecture and explains how object storage and metadata connect SQL tables to files.

## Source excerpt

TL;DR: The Hive connector is what you use in Trino for reading data from object storage that is organized according to the rules laid out by Hive, without using the Hive runtime code. One of the most confusing aspects when starting Trino is the Hive connector. Typically, you seek out the use of Trino when you experience an intensely slow query turnaround from your existing Hadoop, Spark, or Hive infrastructure. In fact, the genesis of Trino, formerly known as Presto, came about due to these slow Hive query conditions at Facebook back in 2012. So when you learn that Trino has a Hive connector, it can be rather confusing since you moved to Trino to circumvent the slowness of your current Hive cluster. Another common source of confusion is when you want to query your data from your cloud object storage, such as AWS S3, MinIO, and Google Cloud Storage. This too uses the Hive connector. If that confuses you, don't worry, you are not alone. This blog aims to explain this commonly confusing nomenclature.