22Aug 2022 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

AWS RDS Backups

AWS, PostgreSQL, RDS
One of the things I love the most about Platform as a Service when it comes to data is the fact that you get RDS backups, built in. Go to the forums. Evidently, backups are one, or more, of the following:a) insanely difficult, so no one does themb) not considered important so no one does themc) not necessary in modern systems because of X technology so no one does them Then, someone deletes a row the business wants back. Someone drops a table. Someone drops a database. Then you find that one, or more, of the following is true:a) no one has ever tried to restore from X technology and you can'tb) come to find out, X technology doesn't really do backupsc) backups are still fundamental to protecting data Enter,…
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01Aug 2022 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Learning PostgreSQL: The Tools

AWS, PostgreSQL, RDS
In case you don't know, I've been writing a series of articles over on Simple-Talk as I learn PostgreSQL. It's all from the point of view of a SQL Server person, expanding into a new technology. In other words, a true story. I thought I'd take a moment here on my own blog to talk about the tools I'm using and why I chose those. AWS RDS Let's establish up front, I'm lazy. Very lazy. So yeah, I'm trying to learn this new technology, but I'm going to find as many ways to use the knowledge, skills & tools I already have as I can. Now, I first started learning PostgreSQL because I wanted to learn more about how Flyway works. Further, as I also needed to learn how to…
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13Jun 2022 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

2022 State of PostgreSQL Survey

PostgreSQL
Hello all. I know most of you are still working within SQL Server. However, a few of you are become more like me, hybrid data managers, working in more than one platform. For those currently doing a little PostgreSQL management, I'd like to point out to you the 2022 State of PostgreSQL survey. These kinds of things are great ways to understand where the technology is headed, your place on that path, and how well your organization is doing with the management of PostgreSQL compared to others. If you have a couple of minutes, please follow the link and fill out the survey. And watch this space for a lot more SQL Server content coming up. I'm rewriting my query tuning book, from scratch, so lots of stuff in my…
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06Jun 2022 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PostgreSQL and Azure Data Studio

PostgreSQL
As I've been working more with PostgreSQL, I've found that I'm basically pretty happy just issuing SQL commands to get work done. However, it's handy to have an actual programming environment to work from. A few reasons for this. First, and probably most important, a good programming environment has easy connections to source control. Also, you'll get, hopefully, some help with type-ahead for the code you're writing. Finally, having a visual of the stuff in your database can be handy while working on it, so a GUI is nice. I use Azure Data Studio for most of my PostgreSQL work. Azure Data Studio and PostgreSQL I'm not sure exactly when support for PostgreSQL was added. The two years I've been poking around with PostgreSQL, Azure Data Studio (ADS) has supported…
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09Feb 2022 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

SQL Server, PostgreSQL and the Future

PostgreSQL, SQL Server
This is just a quick note to talk about the future, mine, yours and this blog. First, I'm not abandoning SQL Server. I'm actively working on a revision of the query performance tuning book (something I should be working on instead of writing this post). SQL Server is my first, and best, database love. We're not going anywhere, SQL Server and I. You can expect more posts on SQL Server, query tuning, execution plans, DevOps, community, #sqlfamily, and everything I've blogged about for the last, ooh, 14 years next month. Second, our family is growing. Just like when a family brings home a new baby, well, I'm adding another database. It doesn't mean I don't love my first database. I still do. We're just going to ALSO be talking about…
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03Feb 2022 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PostgreSQL Restore in Azure

Azure, PostgreSQL
I recently wrote an article about PostgreSQL restores (and by extension, backups) over on Simple-Talk. The restore process within PostgreSQL, without 3rd party involvement, can be a little tricky. However, when you are using a Platform as a Service offering, like Azure Database for PostgreSQL, things get quite a bit easier. Let's explore this just a little. Restores Come From Backups I know we all know this, but as I said in the article over on Simple-Talk, discussing backup strategy is a mistake. You should instead be discussing a restore or recovery strategy. How do you intend to get your database back? How much data are you prepared to lose? How long should a restore take? Answering these questions leads you to a Recovery Point Objective (RPO), which tells you…
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