Bruce Momjian: Postgres Blog

The Pain of Software Development

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:30:00 -0400

Adding features to Postgres is often a frustrating experience for all involved. Some features are clear-cut, but many are subject to interpretation and involve much email discussion. The email discussion is often draining, but this comment from a Slashdot thread about Linux desktop innovation is illuminating. The comment is about human interface engineereers asking for tiny application changes to improve usability, and while the application developer was originally "distracted trying to decide a fitting way to end the e-mail authors life", he ultimately agreed that the changes improved the user experience. I think Postgres developers often feel the same way.

Completed User Testimonial Videos from PG East

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I mentioned in March that user videos would be created at PG East. Those videos have now been released. Hopefully they will be useful in promoting Postgres.

SURGE Conference

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I have decide to attend the SURGE conference in Baltimore in September. It is being hosted by Postgres-friendly OmniTI, who just did several Postgres-related presentations at OSCON (Robert Treat, Theo Schlossnagle). As a database internals guy, my focus is so much on the software that I often know little about how Postgres is deployed at high-volume sites; I hope to learn about that at the conference. With so much Postgres activity in the United States now, I am doing little travel to international conferences (schedule).

OSCON 2010 Report

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I had a great time again at OSCON, and feel more energized than ever about Postgres. Because I attend OSCON every year, it is a great event to gauge changes in Postgres adoption and mindshare. Years ago, Postgres visibility at OSCON was minimal, but now Postgres is a major player at the conference. For example, our booth this year was no longer in the open source section (A.K.A. the open source ghetto), but in the section with commercial vendors. We had abundant booth staffing, thanks to Gabrielle, and artistically designed staff t-shirts (image, image), thanks to Josh Berkus. I think we were moved to the commercial section because our booth staff and activity often overwhelm smaller booths.

The conference had major tutorials (1, 2) and sessions about Postgres, and Postgres as often mentioned in non-database-specific sessions, including the closing session. I heard one non-database session polled the audience about how many attendees had lost data on specific databases — obviously we did very well in that poll.

One Week to the Postgres Pool Party

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

There is one week until the Postgres Pool Party at my home. No RSVP necessary.

Postgres Coming to the International Space Station

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

An email list posting this week revealed that Postgres will be used on the International Space Station by the end of the year, specifically "to store the data on orbit and then replicate that db on the ground". Postgres has always been heavily used by NASA and other government agencies, but this is a uniquely "high"-profile use of Postgres.

PostgreSQL 9.0 Illustrated

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:00:00 -0400

Some Postgres users have created an detailed outline of Postgres 9.0 features with practical examples of almost every feature. If you are curious about what is coming in 9.0 or are confused by the 9.0 release notes, this is a must read.

Another Drexel University Course

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I am teaching another Drexel University database class this summer called Database Theory. This class builds on the Database Systems class I taught last summer, and again heavily uses Postgres. The class covers many of the practical challenges of database management, like replication, internals, security, and managing large systems. As you can see from the syllabus, I was able to enlist the help of local open source contributors as guest lecturers. The first class is tomorrow.

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Postgres Pool Party

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:00:00 -0400

If you are near Philadelphia, you are invited to attend the 2010 Postgres Pool Party at my home:

When: Saturday, July 31, 2010, 2pm to 7pm
Where: my home in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (directions)
What: barbecue, swimming, and most importantly, good conversation

All Postgres users, developers, and groupies are invited, including their families. No need to RSVP — just come.

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Updated Presentation: The Magic of Hot Streaming Replication

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:00:00 -0400

I have simplified my presentation, The Magic of Hot Streaming Replication, to show a hot/streaming setup without the need to archive WAL files. This greatly simplifies the setup, and is possible thanks to wal_keep_segments, which allows the retention of a sufficient number of WAL files in /pg_xlog for the slave without the requirement of configuring continuous archiving.

When I originally researched hot standby and streaming replication, I focused on it as an extension of continuous archiving, but I now realize that continuous archiving is unnecessary and overly-complicates the setup if all you need is a read-only, standby server, and don't need the point-in-time recovery features of continuous archiving.

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