Ardent Performance Computing
Technical
Major Developments in Postgres Extension Discovery and Distribution
PostgreSQL “extensions” are a big part of what makes this database special. The developers building the core Postgres database are amazing. But many people don’t realize just how much of a “data platform” Postgres is (borrowing this phrase from something Craig Kerstiens recently posted online) and just how decentralized the development is for PostgreSQL’s capabilities. … Continue reading
Postgres Indexes, Partitioning and LWLock:LockManager Scalability
I have decided that – in Postgres circles – I shall henceforth refer to 2023 as THE YEAR OF THE LOCK MANAGER’S REVENGE. Let me explain. Lets start with Bruce Momjian. He has an in-depth presentation about locking in general with PostgreSQL called “Unlocking the Postgres Lock Manager“. I see online that he’s been giving … Continue reading
UUID Benchmark War
This month’s PGSQL Phriday #015 topic is about UUIDs, hosted by Lætitia Avrot. Lætitia has called for a debate. No, no, no. I say let’s have an all-out war. A benchmark war. I have decided to orchestrate a benchmark war between four different methods of storing a primary key: The challenge is simple: insert one … Continue reading
Copy-and-Paste A New Postgres Dev Env In 5 Min
You can cut-and-paste the following commands to quickly get a new & clean dev environment for working with PostgreSQL source code. This includes Michael Paquier’s powerful script kit for managing the PostgreSQL development environment. Setting up from scratch takes me about 5 minutes, plus 3 minutes to configure, compile and install PostgreSQL for testing. Running the … Continue reading
Seattle Postgres User Group and PASS Summit – PGSQL Phriday #014
This month’s PGSQL Phriday #014 is about PostgreSQL Events, and it’s a great time to give an update about the Seattle Postgres User Group where I’ve been working together with long-time organizer Lloyd Albin. At the beginning of this year, I wrote about re-starting our meetups post-pandemic. This Thursday is our final meetup of 2023 … Continue reading
Did Postgres Lose My Data?
Hello, let me introduce myself. Today, we’ll pretend that I’m a linguistics researcher. I don’t know much about databases, but I do know a lot about the Balti language of northern Pakistan. That’s why I’m excited about my current translation project. The most interesting part of this translation project is that I’m doing some computer-driven … Continue reading
Seattle User Group Thoughts and Fall Opportunities
Last Thursday was the first in-person Seattle Postgres Users Group meetup since early 2020. We didn’t formally track attendee companies, but I recall having Apple, AWS, Fred Hutch, Google, Microsoft and OtterTune all represented. Besides the presentation about performance, we also had pizza and drinks and a book table. I happily loaned out my copy … Continue reading
Researching the Performance Puzzle
The PostgreSQL Performance Puzzle was, perhaps, too easy – it didn’t take long for someone to guess the correct answer! But I didn’t see much discussion about why the difference or what was happening. My emphasis on the magnitude of the difference was a tip-off that there’s much more than meets the eye with this … Continue reading
PostgreSQL Performance Puzzle
Update 7/18: y’all guessed the answer to my puzzle very fast! At the bottom of this blog post, I’ve added the expressions that I used (with credit to those who guessed it), and also other expressions guessed by readers which exhibited similar behavior. I’ll do another follow-up blog post touching on several layers of this … Continue reading
A Hairy PostgreSQL Incident
It was 5:17pm today, just as I was wrapping up work for the day, and my manager pinged me with the following chat: <manager>: Hi Jeremy – we have a <other team> ticket – escalated to <leader>, <leader>, etc. <principal> is on trying to advise as well. Are you available this evening if needed for … Continue reading
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contact: schneider @ ardentperf.com
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