PostgreSQL DBA

A PostgreSQL database administrator is key for a successful business. When and why use one?

PostgreSQL has become one of the most popular and advanced databases nowadays. It is a free open source database that offers a very large amount of features with the support of various communities around the world. The database’s first version for production was released in 1996 with the version 6.0. Since then, PostgreSQL has been in a continuous growth process run by the community. The latest supported and most popular version is 14.0. PostgreSQL is known for its speed, security and suitability for most of the applications due its robustness.

Since PostgreSQL is one of the best solutions to store, manage and query large amounts of data, it is used by some of the biggest companies in the industry such as Uber, Netflix, Instagram, Spotify, Twitch, Reddit and many more.

PostgreSQL runs on all operating systems and is ACID compliant. It is designed to handle a range of workloads, from single machines to data warehouses and web services with a high number of simultaneous users. It supports text, images, sounds, video and includes programming interfaces for .Net, Delphi, JavaScript, PHP, C / C++, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).

It can also support many server-side procedural languages through its available extensions.

Benefits of PostgreSQL DBA

Using PostgreSQL as your business’ main database

• Reduce costs
  PostgreSQL is a true open source software as it offers a strong reliable database with zero license fees. Your company will not need to spend any money.
• Security
  PostgreSQL offers security solutions for every level. Thanks to its easy extensibility, you can make your DB very secure and safe.
• Open Source benefits
  Since PostgreSQL is an open source platform and it has a very large community, a lot of individuals develop various modules that can be used by everyone. This makes PostgreSQL always updated with the newest technologies and very innovative.
• Community and Reliability
  For over 25 years companies and people have contributed to the project. It has a very strong community around the world that helps each other with bug fixes, tips and support.
• Flexible and Compatible
  PostgreSQL supports a huge variety of data types such as geographic objects, json data, etc… Those will give your business the option to store data correctly and match your business needs.
• Smart Indexing
  PostgreSQL offers various kinds of indexing techniques:
  • B+ Tree is a popular storing method that implements m-ary tree (a tree that has m number of nodes, for instance, a binary tree is an m-ary tree with m=2). The primary value of the B+ Tree is that it is efficient for retrieval of block-oriented storage context, such as filesystems.
  • GiN – Generalized Inverted Index is a storing method designed to handle cases where the items that need to be indexed are composite values. This type of method is very efficient for such cases when you need to search inside the composite values. A classic example would be to search words inside a document.
  • GiST – Generalized Search Tree is a data structure based on B+ Tree. it provides concurrent and recoverable height-balanced search tree infrastructure without making any assumptions about the data types or the queries that will be serviced. GiST works well with wide range of well-known indexes such as B+ Trees, RD-Trees, R-Tress and much more. For all of that, it provides an easy development of specialized indexes for new data types.
  • SP-GiST, BRIN, and etc..

PostgreSQL Partitions

PostgreSQL partitions split each table into smaller pieces that can be stored in a different storage media, based on the data usage. The partitioning process helps PostgreSQL to provide the best performance, its declaration can be done by the users – which gives them full control over the data. The process is highly recommended for such cases when a lot of data needs to be written, updated and read from a single table. A correct partitioning will provide better performance.

There are two types of partitions:

1. Horizontal Partitioning breaks the table into a few different tables with the same column names. the data from the main table is divided into the smaller tables by the partitioning, for example, a good value for the partition can be the year of creation in this case:
   
2. Vertical Partitioning creates tables with less columns and use additional tables to store the rest of the columns, for example, breaking “employers” table into two tables, each with few different rows:
   

These partitions make data retrieval a lot quicker compared to other databases, and in today’s world where speed is a top metric for success – the database you choose can make the difference between your business’ rise

PostgreSQL in a nutshell

PostgreSQL is definitely one of the best database management systems on the market. It is effective, reliable and cuts down on costs. Whether you run a small or a big business PostgreSQL provides an excellent solution for data storage and management.

We have over 15 years of experience architecting, managing and running databases. Looking for someone to manage your data and rocket your business? We have just the right solution for you.