Introduction to PostgreSQL Development and Administration

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) based on the INGRES (INteractive Graphics REtrieval System) package, which was developed at the University of California, Berkeley. The POSTGRES (Post Ingres) project started in 1985, and version 1 was released to a small number of external users in June of 1989. Now, with more than 20 years of development, PostgreSQL has become the most advanced open source database, available all over the world.

This chapter introduces the development of PostgreSQL and how PostgreSQL has become a popular Database as a Service (DBaaS) among the current clouds. We will present an overview of the numerous features of PostgreSQL in various development environments, such as NodeJS and Django. Moving forward, we will introduce you to the PostGIS extension, which is a PostgreSQL facility for a geospatial PostgreSQL database. We will also present the PostgREST standalone web server, which aims to do one thing well: add an HTTP interface to any PostgreSQL databases or RESTful APIs. 

Then, in the second part of the chapter, we will learn about the administration of PostgreSQL. We will utilize DevOps through the setting up of PostgreSQL high availability (HA) clusters. We will also set up New Relic to monitor a PostgreSQL database, carry out performance tests on a PostgreSQL database with PGBench and JMeter, and use PostgreSQL testing frameworks.

In this chapter, we will cover the following main topics:

• An overview of PostgreSQL development
• An overview of PostgreSQL administration