On 07/11/2014 08:01 AM, Don Brown wrote:
> Hello
>
> We are writing a small application and we are trying to determine if
> PostgreSQL is the right database for us.
>
> The application at this stage is only for a single user and commonly for
> persons with little computer expertise.
>
> When the database is installed a postgreSQL user account is created
> which in most cases will be the second user account on the PC. The
> result of this is the user now has to select the user account when ever
> the computer is restarted.
You must be using a very old installer. PostgreSQL switched to
NETWORKSERVICE with the 9.2 installers. I also think that the login
rights flag (that caused the account to show up as available for a user
to log into) was fixed way before that, but I'm less sure about that.
> The programmer working on this application has suggested looking at an
> imbedded database, something like H2 as an alternative.
H2 or SQLite can be very reasonable choices for in-app embedded
databases, so long as your app can operate within their constraints on
concurrency and data size.
If you want to use PostgreSQL you should:
* Use the current version and plan for upgrades
* Bundle the .zip of the binaries in your installer rather than using
the PostgreSQL installer
* `initdb` a new data dir just for your app, in %PROGRAMDATA%
* `pg_ctl register` a service under NETWORKSERVICE, or `pg_ctl` start
and `pg_ctl stop` PostgreSQL on demand from the app
* Run PostgreSQL on a non-default port. This is important. Please do not
use port 5432 for embedded PostgreSQL installs. It'll confuse users if
they later go to install PostgreSQL themselves.
Also, please do not have your installer add the PostgreSQL binaries to
the system or user PATH environment variables. Put them in the same
directory as your application binaries, or use a relative path to them
from your application.
Remember to plan for upgrades. Your app should be able to do an upgrade
of their PostgreSQL install when it's updated, either using pg_dump and
pg_restore, or by using pg_upgrade after performing a backup. Don't get
stuck on some ancient version because you didn't consider upgrades.
(Perhaps we should add a section on this to the documentation?)
--
Craig Ringer http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training & Services