Re: Are you frustrated with PostgreSQL

On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 15:16:36 -0700 "Terence Chang" <TChang@nqueue.com>
sat down, thought long and then wrote:

> I know MySQL is simpiler and cheap. With my years experience with
> enterprise level DB like Oracle and MS SQL, I just don't feel right
> with MySQL. I love stored procedure. Sorry to MySQL lovers.

I had to work with MySQL instead of PostgreSQL some years ago (and
unfrequently, still now), so I can immediately compare. I prefer
PostgreSQL. A lot.

>
> I have the following questions. Please reply me offline, so the
> mailling list won't get flood. Thanks!
> 1. What is your favorite GUI tool for PostgreSQL?

I usually use command line psql. It´s fast and cheap and does what
I want it to do. People using MS-Windows use PgAdmin, but older versions
seem to have a drawback in that they connect to all databases they find
on the server, they are attached to, which may cause a problem due to a
low set number of connections - limit. Newer versions of PgAdmin don´t
behave so greedy. You can even use PgAdmin to get data from MS-Excel
into PostgreSQL without big efforts. Some people use MS-Access or other
similiar query tools using ODBC.

> 2. In your organization, do you have someone who works as full time
> PostgreSQL DBA?

What for? He would be hanging around all day doing nearly nothing
except changing backup tapes on monday. Install it, tune the
configuration, set up the backup job, let it run.

> 3. What is the biggest challenge you have with PostgreSQL?
> Administration or Programming?

Maybe optimization of the backend. Like other users write, PostgreSQL is
very conservative out of the box. Fiddling here and there, mostly
inside postgresql.conf, can greatly improve performance. For details you
might want to look at http://techdocs.postgresql.org. On the programming
side there is no real challenge, because the SQL-standard is very high
and comfortable (IMHO for example much better than with MSSQL). We
usually use PHP/PEAR or Pearl, sometimes C with Embedded SQL/ECPG. I
never used stored procedures, so I can give no statement to that.

A real challenge is replication. They are working on it, it has very
high priority on the todo-list. If you need replication right now,
either you have to write tools yourself, or have a look at the
PostgreSQL website http://www.postgresql.org, there are several methods,
but none of them works currently for me (I need eager master-master
replication, didn´t find it yet for 7.x.x).

> 4. Overall, do you like PostgreSQL? Would you recommend it over MySQL?

Yes, a lot.

> 5. How often do your PostgreSQL run into problem or crash? Are most of
> the problem caused by PostgreSQL itself?

I had some kind of crash yesterday in the evening (a segfault in one
frontend, probably caused by a faulty client), the first one in about
7 years. What did the server do: It rolled back running transactions,
closed all client connections due to eventually corrupt shared memory,
restarted itself, applied the Redo-Logs and that was it. No more
problems, no data loss, just going on, as if nothing had happened.

We use 7.1.3 out of the SuSE-Box (SuSE 7.3), and here and there 7.3.2
(SuSE 8.2). The biggest application database at the moment is
approximately 1GB, and up to now we do not notice any loss in
performance (we vacuum it every night). BTW: It was possible to dump the
7.1.3 and read it into the 7.3.1 without any problem, so upgrading or
moving the database is quite easy..


>
> Any suggestion and help are welcome. Thanks!


You´re welcome!
--
Frank Finner

Memory follows memory, memory defeats memory; some things are banished
only into the realms of our rich imaginings  -  but this does not mean
that they do not or cannot or will not exist - they exist! They exist!
                              (M. Moorcock, "The Revenge Of The Rose")