PG Phriday Archives - 2ndQuadrant

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PG Phriday: 10 Things Postgres Could Improve – Part 3

September 11, 2020/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

At the core of the “10 Things I Hate About PostgreSQL” blog post, sits one particular observation that seems like a simple annoyance at first glance. MVCC is presented merely as item 4 in the list, but like XIDs, it serves as a star upon which an entire constellation of related stellar objects converge. While […]

PG Phriday: It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and Postgres is Fine)

July 3, 2020/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

On June 17th, I gave a presentation on Postgres Monitoring to the Chicago Postgres User Group. Since MeetUp doesn’t allow uploading slides, I figured I’d convert my presentation into a more comprehensive writeup. Enjoy! Why Monitor So, what are the finer points of Disaster Mitigation? Let’s start with a few questions: What broke? When did […]

PG Phriday: 10 Things Postgres Could Improve – Part 2

June 19, 2020/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

Last week, we examined Postgres XID wraparound complications in greater depth to see exactly how easily they can surprise even prepared enterprises. But we also found the real problem areas and how to mitigate them specifically. In this continuing series to plumb the depths of Postgres constructively, we’re going to focus on some of the […]

PG Phriday: 10 Things Postgres Could Improve – Part 1

June 12, 2020/3 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

Postgres is a database software engine with a lot to love, and certainly a non-zero amount to hate. Rather than approaching the topic from a glib and clickbaity angle, let’s see what’s really lurking in those dark recesses, and how we may potentially address them. Though the original blog post calling out Postgres’ faults gave […]

PG Phriday: Postgres 12 Revs up Vacuum

September 6, 2019/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

Any long-time user of Postgres is likely familiar with VACUUM, the process that ensures old data tuples are identified and reused to prevent unchecked database bloat. This critical element of maintenance has slowly, but surely, undergone incremental enhancements with each subsequent release. Postgres 12 is no different in this regard. In fact, there are two […]

PG Phriday: Around the World in Two Billion Transactions

April 19, 2019/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

Transaction IDs (XID) have been something of a thorn in Postgres’ side since the dawn of time. On one hand, they’re necessary to differentiate tuple visibility between past, present, and concurrent transactions. On the other hand, the counter that stores it is only 32-bits, meaning it’s possible to eventually overflow without some kind of intervention. […]

I am Developer! (And You Can Too!)

April 5, 2019/0 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

A while back, 2ndQuadrant notified a few of us that we should get more involved in Postgres Development in some capacity. Being as I’ve essentially fallen off the map in corresponding with the mailing lists in general, it would be a good way to get back into the habit. But wait! Don’t we want more […]

PG Phriday: PgBouncer or Bust

January 11, 2019/4 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

What is the role of PgBouncer in a Postgres High Availability stack? What even is PgBouncer at the end of the day? Is it a glorified traffic cop, or an integral component critical to the long-term survival of a Postgres deployment? When we talk about Postgres High Availability, a lot of terms might spring to […]

PG Phriday: Studying Stored Procedures in Postgres 11

October 12, 2018/6 Comments/in 2ndQuadrant, Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

Studying Stored Procs in Postgres 11 With Postgres 11 looming on the near horizon, it’s only appropriate to check out a recent beta and kick the tires a few times. Whether it’s improvements in parallelism, partitions, stored procedures, JIT functionality, or any number of elements in the release page, there’s a lot to investigate. It […]

On Rocks and Sand

September 21, 2018/9 Comments/in Shaun's PlanetPostgreSQL /by Shaun Thomas

When working with database capacity planning, there are a lot of variables to consider, and Postgres is no different in this regard. One of the elements which requires management is storage. However, there’s an aspect of storage that escapes inspection almost without exception, and it’s hiding in the shadows between the columns themselves. Alignment Basics […]

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