by David Stokes | Sep 13, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
First, a big thanks for the kind responses to this series, and, as requested, here is an overview of index types available in PostgreSQL. The supporting video with bonus material can be found here. PostgreSQL has several popular index types including B-tree, Hash,...
by Robert Bernier | Sep 13, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, Insight for Developers, PostgreSQL
One of the reasons I’ve never strayed far from PostgreSQL is that I am always discovering features that overcome all sorts of interesting problems. Although, to be honest, from time to time I’ve had the feeling that sometimes some features are a solution in...
by Robert Bernier | Sep 2, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, Insight for Developers, Open Source, PostgreSQL
After working with PostgreSQL for so many years it’s sometimes surprising to see some of the utilities, to a certain degree, have capabilities that remain relatively unknown to more than a few people. So let me introduce you to manifests. Both pg_dump and...
by David Stokes | Aug 29, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Those new to the realm of PostgreSQL from other databases will find little gems sprinkled liberally through the software. One of those gems is the watch command. It can be used to repeatedly run a query over and over again. Pretend you are watching the progress of...
by Jobin Augustine | Aug 26, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
Anyone trying the upcoming PostgreSQL 15 might observe that one of the background processes is missing. postgres 1710 1 0 04:03 ? 00:00:00 /usr/pgsql-15/bin/postmaster -D /var/lib/pgsql/15/data/ postgres 1711 1710 0 04:03 ? 00:00:00 postgres: logger postgres 1712 1710...
by David Stokes | Aug 18, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Thank you for the many kind responses to this series. There are many out there who have MySQL experience and are seeking to expand into PostgreSQL for reasons ranging from simple curiosity to fortifying their professional skills. Now that we have covered the...
by Jorge Torralba | Aug 5, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
I have been working with Postgres now for many years, most recently as a consultant at Percona for companies with new implementations of Postgres as a result of migrating from Oracle or some other legacy database engine. In some cases, these are Fortune 100 companies...
by David Gonzalez | Aug 4, 2022 | Benchmarks, Insight for DBAs, Insight for Developers, PostgreSQL
When working with databases, there are always some projects oriented to performing analytics and reporting tasks over the information stored in the database. Usually, these tasks leverage window functions to do calculations “across a set of table rows that are...
by David Stokes | Jul 28, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Episode 8 in the PostgreSQL for MySQL DBAs series covers materialized views. MySQL has had views for many years and they are very useful, but it has never had materialized views. Those who use materialized views appreciate their utility and here we will cover how they...
by David Stokes | Jul 18, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Experienced MySQL DBAs exploring PostgreSQL are often shocked to learn that they will need to vacuum their tables. This is not using a Hoover brand-like device or letting a Roomba-like robot loose on the server. Vacuuming is a necessary part of maintenance on a...
by David Stokes | Jul 15, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
The differences between MySQL and PostgreSQL are often trivial but occasionally there are stark differences. A MySQL DBA wanting to optimize a query on a PostgreSQL server will hopefully have some experience with using EXPLAIN. For the uninitiated, the keyword...
by David Gonzalez | Jul 14, 2022 | Benchmarks, Insight for DBAs, Insight for Developers, PostgreSQL
Consuming data from a remote foreign database into our local database just like another local table is a great feature that adds an excellent level of flexibility to the design of a database solution. This option is present in a number of database products. Oracle...
by Robert Bernier | Jul 13, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
Well, it’s that time of the year when once again we have a look at the newest version of PostgreSQL. As tradition dictates, here at Percona, the team is given a list of features to write about. Mine happened to be about a very basic and, I might add, important...
by Hamid Akthar | Jul 7, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
Replication sits at the core of database high availability (HA). While on-disk data can be replicated through various methods, whether hardware or software, disk, file, or block-based solutions, without an online copy of the database, HA setup cannot be achieved. This...
by David Stokes | Jun 30, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Many MySQL DBAs have expressed interest in learning about PostgreSQL and this series is a guided tour through the basics. One of the ‘Wow! That is Different!’ things for MySQL DBAs looking at PostgreSQL are sequences. Sequences can be used as a rough...
by David Stokes | Jun 21, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, MySQL, PostgreSQL
The videos for PostgreSQL for MySQL Database Administrators (DBA) episodes three and four are live here and here. Episode three covers a simple backup and restoration while episode four covers some handy PSL commands. For those of you who missed the first two videos...
by David Stokes | May 24, 2022 | Database Trends, Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL 15 Beta 1 was announced on May 15th and to keep with the spirit of past peeks at MySQL and MariaDB products, this is a cursory glance at the release notes to see what is coming. This is a preview of all the features that will be in the General Available...
by Matt Yonkovit | May 5, 2022 | Percona Software, PostgreSQL
Awesome news, pg_stat_monitor has reached a GA STATUS! Percona has long been associated with pushing the limits and understanding the nuances involved in running database systems at scale, so building a tool that helps get us there brings a bit more insight and...
by Robert Bernier | Apr 27, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, Insight for Developers, PostgreSQL
It’s a funny thing when the topic of database sizes comes up. Calling one small, medium, large, or even huge isn’t as straightforward as you’d think. Distinguishing the size of a database is based upon a number of factors whose characteristics can be...
by Hamid Akthar | Apr 19, 2022 | Insight for DBAs, PostgreSQL
Concurrent access to data within PostgreSQL is managed with the Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) model. Data snapshots are maintained for each SQL statement so that they always get consistent data, even if other transactions are modifying it concurrently. This...
