Shaun M. Thomas - PostgreSQL High Availability Cookbook

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First published: February 2017

Production reference: 1010217

ISBN 978-1-78712-553-7

www.packtpub.com

Shaun M. Thomas has been working with PostgreSQL since late 2000. He is a frequent contributor to the PostgreSQL Performance and General mailing lists, assisting other DBAs with the knowledge he's gained over the years. In 2011 and 2012, he gave presentations at the Postgres Open conference on topics such as handling extreme throughput, high availability, server redundancy, and failover techniques. Most recently, he has contributed the Shard Manager extension and the walctl WAL management suite. Currently, he serves as the database architect at PEAK6 Investments, where he develops standard operating procedure (SOP) guidelines to facilitate reliable server architecture among many other tasks. Many of the techniques used in this book were developed specifically for this extreme environment. He believes that PostgreSQL has a stupendous future ahead, and he can't wait to see the advancements subsequent versions will bring. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonesmoses

Sheldon Strauch is a 22-year veteran of software consulting at companies such as IBM, Sears, Ernst & Young, and Kraft Foods. He has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and leverages his technical skills to improve the business' self-awareness. His interests include data gathering, management, and mining; maps and mapping; business intelligence; and application of data analysis for continuous improvement. He is currently focused on development of end-to-end data management and mining at Enova International, a financial services company located in Chicago. In his spare time, he enjoys the performing arts, particularly music, and traveling with his wife, Marilyn.

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Welcome to the PostgreSQL 9 High Availability Cookbook! As a database engine, PostgreSQL is settling into its place as a reliable bastion of high-transaction rates and very large data installations. DB-Engines recently listed PostgreSQL as the third most popular database software in the world! With such notoriety comes increasing demand for PostgreSQL to act as a critical piece of infrastructure. System outages in these environments can be spectacularly costly and require a higher caliber of management and tooling.

It is the job of a DBA to ensure that the database is always available for application demands and client needs. Yet this is extremely difficult to accomplish without the necessary skills and experience with common operating-system and PostgreSQL tools. Installing, configuring, and optimizing a PostgreSQL cluster is but a tiny fraction of the process. We also need to know how to find and recognize problems, manage a swarm of logical and physical replicas, and scale to increasing demands, all while preventing or mitigating system outages.

This book is something the author wishes existed 10 years ago. Back then, there were no recipes to follow for building a fault-tolerant PostgreSQL cluster; we had to improvise. It is our aim to prevent other DBAs from experiencing the kind of frustration borne of reinventing the wheel. We've done all the hard work, taken notes, outlined everything we've ever learned about keeping PostgreSQL available, and written it all down in here.