In a recent survey commissioned by pgEdge, Inc., insights into the critical uptime requirements of organizations utilizing PostgreSQL were unveiled. Conducted in collaboration with The Foundry, the survey delves into how technology decision-makers navigate the complexities of maintaining business continuity during cloud service outages. The findings underscore the increasing necessity for distributed PostgreSQL solutions as organizations strive to enhance their high availability strategies.
Survey Findings on Uptime and Availability
The survey reveals that a staggering 91% of PostgreSQL users expect no more than four minutes of downtime per month, equating to an impressive 99.99% uptime. Notably, 24% of respondents aim for even more stringent limits, seeking less than 30 seconds of downtime. This data highlights PostgreSQL’s capability to support operations that demand exceptional performance and reliability.
Despite the high expectations, 21% of respondents reported experiencing an outage within the past year, while 82% expressed concerns regarding potential cloud region failures. This reflects a widespread acknowledgment of the risks associated with cloud services.
Looking ahead, 79% of participants are either evaluating (29%) or piloting (50%) a distributed or purpose-built high availability PostgreSQL solution within the next year. This trend indicates a robust demand for innovative database architectures, positioning pgEdge Distributed PostgreSQL as a compelling option in the market.
Deployment Landscape of PostgreSQL
The survey also sheds light on the deployment strategies of PostgreSQL within organizations. More than half of the respondents (51%) utilize PostgreSQL in a hybrid database environment, while 35% rely on it as the primary database for customer-facing applications. A significant majority, over two-thirds, are actively running PostgreSQL in production, with 37% employing it for mission-critical applications and 30% standardizing it across various workloads.
To achieve high availability, 58% of organizations depend on read replicas and automated failover within a single region. In contrast, nearly half (47%) are already leveraging PostgreSQL across multiple cloud regions with multi-master replication, illustrating a proactive approach to database resilience.
Consequences of Downtime and Benefits of High Availability
The ramifications of exceeding downtime thresholds can be severe. Among those who experienced downtime beyond their limits, 56% reported delays in business operations, while 40% noted damage to brand trust. Additionally, 49% faced spikes in support requests, and 47% required emergency remediation, emphasizing the urgent need for robust database architectures. Notably, no respondents indicated that they experienced “no impact” from downtime.
Conversely, organizations that implement high availability or distributed PostgreSQL solutions benefit significantly. Increased uptime and zero-downtime operations topped the list of advantages at 53%, followed by cost savings compared to proprietary databases at 36%, reinforcing the value proposition of adopting PostgreSQL.
Profile of Survey Respondents
The survey captured insights from 212 IT decision-makers across enterprises with 500 or more employees. A notable 75% of respondents identified their roles within IT, Networking, or Security, with 12% holding C-level positions. The diversity in company size among respondents included 25% from organizations with 1,000 to 2,499 employees and 12% from those with 10,000 or more, highlighting a shared need for high availability strategies across various enterprise scales. The leading industries represented were financial services, software and computing, and manufacturing, comprising 69% of the total responses.
Phillip Merrick, Co-founder and CEO of pgEdge, remarked, “IT leaders are increasingly concerned with downtime for mission-critical applications and the risks of cloud region failure impacting their business.” The survey results reinforce pgEdge’s strategic position to address the growing demand for distributed PostgreSQL solutions.
For further details, the complete findings of the Postgres high availability survey can be accessed online.
pgEdge, dedicated to advancing distributed PostgreSQL, aims to simplify the development and deployment of highly distributed database applications across global networks. With a foundation built on extensive PostgreSQL expertise, pgEdge serves a diverse clientele, including prominent enterprises and government agencies. For more information, visit www.pgedge.com.