Is there a way to capture the raw size of the payload carried by a copy command issued ?

The LOAD_STREAMS system table might contain what you're looking for:

https://vertica.com/docs/9.3.x/HTML/Content/Authoring/SQLReferenceManual/SystemTables/MONITOR/LOAD_STREAMS.htm

For example:
with current_load as
(select
load_start,
case when is_executing then ((DATEDIFF(second, load_start::TIMESTAMP, sysdate())) / 60)
else (load_duration_ms / 1000 / 60)
end as Load_so_far_Minutes,
load_duration_ms,
input_file_size_bytes,
(input_file_size_bytes/1024^3)::numeric(9,3) as input_file_size_bytes_GB,
unsorted_row_count,
accepted_row_count,
rejected_row_count,
read_bytes,
parse_complete_percent || '%' AS parse_complete_percent,
sorted_row_count,
sort_complete_percent || '%' AS sort_complete_percent
from load_streams
where load_start::timestamp > sysdate -2 and
stream_name like 'MY_STREAM_NAME%'
)
SELECT
TO_CHAR(read_bytes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS read_bytes,
TO_CHAR(read_bytes / Load_so_far_Minutes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS read_bytes_per_minute,
TO_CHAR(input_file_size_bytes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS input_file_size_bytes,
input_file_size_bytes_GB,
TO_CHAR(unsorted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS unsorted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(accepted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS accepted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(rejected_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS rejected_row_count,
parse_complete_percent,
TO_CHAR(sorted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS sorted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(sorted_row_count / Load_so_far_Minutes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS sorted_row_count_per_Minute,
sort_complete_percent,
Load_so_far_Minutes::numeric(9,1)
FROM current_load
order by load_duration_ms desc
limit 100;

    -[ RECORD 1 ]---------------+---------------------
read_bytes                                |      785,433,843,954
read_bytes_per_minute       |       10,069,664,666
input_file_size_bytes             |      785,433,843,954
input_file_size_bytes_GB    | 731.492
unsorted_row_count             |       10,000,000,000
accepted_row_count            |       10,000,000,000
rejected_row_count              |                    0
parse_complete_percent    | 100%
sorted_row_count                  |       10,000,000,000
sorted_row_count_per_Minute |      128,205,128
sort_complete_percent       | 100%
Load_so_far_Minutes            | 78.0

I believe that the size in INPUT_FILE_SIZE_BYTES includes all of field delimeters and special characters (i.e. line feeds). Plus it shows the compressed file size of the file is compressed.

If you want the raw size as Vertica defines it, I think you'd have to do something crazy like this?

dbadmin=> CREATE TABLE some_table(c1 VARCHAR, c2 VARCHAR, c3 VARCHAR, c4 INT);
CREATE TABLE

dbadmin=> \! ls -l /home/dbadmin/test_data.txt.gz | awk '{print $5, $9}'
68762071 /home/dbadmin/test_data.txt.gz

dbadmin=> COPY some_table FROM '/home/dbadmin/test_data.txt.gz' GZIP DIRECT;
 Rows Loaded
-------------
     4194304
(1 row)

dbadmin=> SELECT source_name, input_size FROM load_sources;
          source_name           | input_size
--------------------------------+------------
 /home/dbadmin/test_data.txt.gz |   68762071
(1 row)

dbadmin=> CREATE LOCAL TEMP TABLE some_table_temp ON COMMIT PRESERVE ROWS AS SELECT * FROM some_table WHERE epoch = (SELECT MAX(epoch) FROM some_table);
CREATE TABLE

dbadmin=> SELECT AUDIT('some_table_temp', 0, 100);
   AUDIT
-----------
 100197130
(1 row)

dbadmin=> DROP TABLE some_table_temp;
DROP TABLE

Or, in my example, this is much easier:

dbadmin=> SELECT SUM(LENGTH(c1) + LENGTH(c2) + LENGTH(c3) + LENGTH(c4::VARCHAR)) raw_size FROM some_table WHERE epoch = (SELECT MAX(epoch) FROM some_table);
 raw_size
-----------
 100197130
(1 row)

@mosheg said:
For example:
with current_load as
(select
load_start,
case when is_executing then ((DATEDIFF(second, load_start::TIMESTAMP, sysdate())) / 60)
else (load_duration_ms / 1000 / 60)
end as Load_so_far_Minutes,
load_duration_ms,
input_file_size_bytes,
(input_file_size_bytes/1024^3)::numeric(9,3) as input_file_size_bytes_GB,
unsorted_row_count,
accepted_row_count,
rejected_row_count,
read_bytes,
parse_complete_percent || '%' AS parse_complete_percent,
sorted_row_count,
sort_complete_percent || '%' AS sort_complete_percent
from load_streams
where load_start::timestamp > sysdate -2 and
stream_name like 'MY_STREAM_NAME%'
)
SELECT
TO_CHAR(read_bytes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS read_bytes,
TO_CHAR(read_bytes / Load_so_far_Minutes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS read_bytes_per_minute,
TO_CHAR(input_file_size_bytes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS input_file_size_bytes,
input_file_size_bytes_GB,
TO_CHAR(unsorted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS unsorted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(accepted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS accepted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(rejected_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS rejected_row_count,
parse_complete_percent,
TO_CHAR(sorted_row_count, '999,999,999,999,999') AS sorted_row_count,
TO_CHAR(sorted_row_count / Load_so_far_Minutes, '999,999,999,999,999') AS sorted_row_count_per_Minute,
sort_complete_percent,
Load_so_far_Minutes::numeric(9,1)
FROM current_load
order by load_duration_ms desc
limit 100;

-[ RECORD 1 ]---------------+---------------------
read_bytes | 785,433,843,954
read_bytes_per_minute | 10,069,664,666
input_file_size_bytes | 785,433,843,954
input_file_size_bytes_GB | 731.492
unsorted_row_count | 10,000,000,000
accepted_row_count | 10,000,000,000
rejected_row_count | 0
parse_complete_percent | 100%
sorted_row_count | 10,000,000,000
sorted_row_count_per_Minute | 128,205,128
sort_complete_percent | 100%
Load_so_far_Minutes | 78.0

Thanks. I was looking for something equivalent in 8.x vertica.