POSTGRES IS DIFFERENT FROM(BETTER THAN)

YOUR RDBMS

Gurjeet Singh

gurjeet.singh.im

EDB - EnterpriseDB.com

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ADeveloperManager

DEVELOPER'S PERSPECTIVELicenseReliabilitySecurityFeaturesExtensibilityPerformanceDiagnosability

DEVELOPER : LICENSEBSD-like License

Liberal than/Very different from GPL.PostgreSQL License gives you

Freedom to read, patch/improve the code.An opportunity to understand the database internalsInstall, use/develop and deploy full feature-set without alicenseUpgrade hardware without paying for license costUnlike commercial RDBMSs where licenses come in theway of development, QA, and hardware upgrades.

DEVELOPER : RELIABILITYACID compliantConstraints (Primary Key, Foreign Key, CHECK)Data-page checksums to detect corruption

DEVELOPER : SECURITYPer-object GRANT/REVOKE permissionsPer-column GRANT/REVOKE permissionsSSL connectionsLDAP and RADIUS authentication

DEVELOPER : FEATURESPostgres is a PlatformVast feature set... and ever-expanding

Postgres Feature Matrix

http://www.postgresql.org/about/featurematrix/

DEVELOPER : FEATURESCommon Table Expressions (CTEs)

Similar to Macro in programming languagesSupports recursive evaluation (alternative to Oracle'sCONNECT BY)

DEVELOPER : FEATURES : DATA TYPESMany advanced data types come builtin

Full List of Builtin Data Types

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/datatype.html

DEVELOPER : FEATURES : DATA TYPESDoes not have/need NVARCHAR data type

The CHAR/VARCHAR/TEXT types are capable of storingUnicode data

DEVELOPER : FEATURES : DATA TYPESBoolean (a first-class data type)Bit (and Bit strings)MoneyBytea (binary data)Interval (difference between TIMESTAMPs)Enumerated TypesGeometry Types (Point, Line Segment, Polygon, ...)Network Address (inet, cidr, macaddr)

DEVELOPER : FEATURES : DATA TYPESRange Types (tsrange, daterange, int4range, ...)Composite typesBuiltin multi-dimensional arrays

Automatically defines array type of builtin and user-defineddata types

DEVELOPER : FEATURES : DATA TYPEShstoreJSONXML

DEVELOPER : FEATURESStreaming ReplicationHot StandbyPer-transaction synchronous replicationTrue serializable transactionsLISTEN/NOTIFYTriggersExclusion constraintsWindow FunctionsFunction overloadingOperator overloadingFull-text searchLarge Objects up to 4TBMaterialized views

DEVELOPER : FEATURESCreate procedures in various programming languages

PL/pgsqlPL/perlPL/tclPL/javaPL/v8 - JavaScript

DEVELOPER : FEATURE/PERFORMANCETOAST

The Oversized Attribute Storage Technique

Automatic out-of-line storage and automatic compression

DEVELOPER : PERFORMANCECost-based optimizerIndex-only scansSynchronized seq-scansTable partitioningUnlogged tables

DEVELOPER : PERFORMANCEPartial indexesMany types of indexes

BTreeHashGinGistKNNSP-Gist

DEVELOPER : PERFORMANCETypes of join-strategies

Nested-loop joinsHash joinsSort-Merge joinsBitmap-index scan; Bitmap-And/Or joins (in-memory)

Can use multiple indexes of a table in the same scanSemi joinsAnti joins

DEVELOPER : PERFORMANCEFaster than NoSQL (at NoSQL use case)See slides 32 onwards of Chrisophe Pettus'PostgreSQL as a Schemaless Database

http://thebuild.com/presentations/pg-as-nosql-pgday-fosdem-2013.pdf

DEVELOPER : DIAGNOSTICSPer-function statisticsPerformance Views

pg_stat_activitypg_lockspg_stat_*

pg_stat_all_tablespg_stat_all_indexes...

DEVELOPER : DIAGNOSTICSLogging Options

log_min_duration_statementlog_temp_files

DTrace/SystemTap support

Scripts to record and diagnose performance issues

DEVELOPER : EXTENSIBILITYHighly ExtensibleCreate Your Own

Data TypesOperatorsIndex Types

create extensionCheck out Foreign Data WrapperForeign Tables

PGXN.org

DEVELOPER : EXTENSIBILITYExamples

PostGIS

PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to thePostgreSQL object-relational database.

PostgreSQL-HLL

A PostgreSQL extension adding HyperLogLog datastructures as a native data type

MANAGER'S PERSPECTIVEAcquisition Cost (License)Future ProofVendors/Providers (Companies who can help)Maintenance Cost (Support)Buy-in From Upper Management

MANAGER : ACQUISITION COSTFree

MANAGER : ACQUISITION COSTFREESave Money $$$Higher Profit MarginsA Leg Up On The Competition

MANAGER : ACQUISITION COSTBSD-like License

Liberal than/Very different from GPL.Install, use/develop and deploy full feature-set without alicenseUpgrade hardware without paying for license costUnlike commercial RDBMSs where licenses come in theway of development, QA, and hardware upgrades.

MANAGER : FUTURE PROOFCommunity-drivenNo single commercial entity controls it (unlike MySQL)Will be always free (cost and project management)

MANAGER : FUTURE PROOFEver-increasing resource-pool; developers and DBAsCompare growth in job requirements

MANAGER : VENDORS/PROVIDERSMany top-quality vendors

EDB (EnterpriseDB)PG Experts2nd QuadrantOmniTICommand Prompt

Many smaller consulting teams/individuals

MANAGER : MAINTENANCE COST24/7 Support availableVery affordable support contracts

For e.g. EDB charges per-socket (unlike Oracle, thatcharges per CPU)

MANAGER : MAINTENANCE COSTConsultingRemote-DBADatabase Health ChecksTraining

For DevelopersFor DBAs

MANAGER : UPPER MANAGEMENT BUY-INShow them the last few slides :)

THANK YOU