Postgres Archives

Tech Optimizer

August 12, 2025

Postgres for everything? not really..and here are some of the problems.

PostgreSQL can serve as a powerful all-in-one database, but real-world implementations often complicate its effectiveness due to complex corporate infrastructures. Accessing a production database may involve numerous network hops, firewalls, and antivirus software that can slow down performance. The lack of administrative privileges can hinder the use of extensions. Developers often turn to Kubernetes for more freedom, but this can introduce new challenges, such as unpredictable resource allocations and performance inconsistencies. Row-Level Security (RLS) can lead to performance overhead and complicate debugging. Centralizing business logic in stored procedures can enhance performance but complicates version control and tracking changes. In large organizations, policies governing technology use often create bottlenecks. PostgreSQL may not be optimal for portable setups (SQLite), simple caching (Redis), or specialized search functionalities (Elasticsearch, Meilisearch). It is most effective when developers have control over the environment, allowing it to handle various applications efficiently.

Tech Optimizer

August 12, 2025

How Wiz achieved near-zero downtime for Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL major version upgrades at scale using Aurora Blue/Green Deployments

Wiz upgraded its Aurora PostgreSQL database from version 14 to 16, achieving a significant reduction in downtime from approximately one hour to just 30 seconds. The upgrade was facilitated by an automated process called DB Upgrade Pilot, which utilized Amazon Aurora's Blue/Green Deployments. This process involved several steps: taking a cluster snapshot, provisioning a synchronized replica of the production database, executing a VACUUM ANALYZE for performance optimization, monitoring replication lag, and performing a switchover to the new environment. The upgrade included performance enhancements such as improved parallel query execution and faster aggregations, along with enhanced security features. The solution also incorporated safety measures like automatic rollback capability and robust validation steps to ensure a stable upgrade process.

Tech Optimizer

August 9, 2025

PostgreSQL Revolutionizes Durable Execution with Database Workflow Storage

Developers and enterprises are increasingly turning to PostgreSQL for durable execution, which allows workflows to withstand failures without losing state. PostgreSQL's strong transactional guarantees, adherence to ACID principles, and extensibility make it suitable for this purpose. By using Write-Ahead Logging (WAL), PostgreSQL can reliably record every step of a process, facilitating smooth resumption after disruptions. This approach eliminates the need for separate state management layers, simplifying cloud-native environments. PostgreSQL can manage both data persistence and execution logic, allowing for seamless recovery from failures. Recent advancements, such as integrations from Neon and Inngest, enable real-time workflows based on database changes without requiring complex orchestration services. Updates in PostgreSQL 16 and beyond, including improved logical replication and the anticipated asynchronous I/O in PostgreSQL 18, enhance performance for durable tasks. Adoption of PostgreSQL for durable execution is rising among tech giants and startups, with examples like Figma's scalable Postgres database and AWS’s Aurora DSQL service. This trend reflects a movement towards disaggregated architectures, where databases become active participants in application logic. However, challenges remain in balancing speed and durability configurations. Overall, PostgreSQL is evolving as a resilient solution for durable execution in modern applications.

Tech Optimizer

July 31, 2025

Cloudflare Chooses PostgreSQL Extension Over Specialized OLAP for 100K Row/Second Analytics

Cloudflare's team chose TimescaleDB over ClickHouse for its Zero Trust product suite to achieve a balance between managing analytical and configuration data and the performance of an OLAP system. They developed Digital Experience Monitoring (DEX), an observability platform that collects structured logs from WARP clients and presents them through a dashboard. Initially using ClickHouse since 2017, they faced limitations with its MergeTree engine, which struggled with numerous small writes from millions of devices. To expedite DEX's release, they used PostgreSQL, managing 200 inserts per second at launch, which scaled to 1,000 inserts/sec as usage grew, leading to performance degradation. They improved query performance by precomputing aggregates, achieving a 1000x improvement. Transitioning to TimescaleDB allowed for better management of time-stamped data with automated aggregation and data retention. Benchmarking showed performance enhancements of 5x to 35x compared to traditional PostgreSQL tables. Following DEX's success, TimescaleDB has been adopted for other Cloudflare initiatives, including Zero Trust Analytics & Reporting.

Tech Optimizer

July 30, 2025

Benchmark Reports Identify EDB Postgres® AI as the Sovereign Platform for Generative and Agentic AI

Recent benchmark studies by Everest Group and McKnight Consulting Group reveal that EDB Postgres AI significantly reduces development complexity by 67% and total cost of ownership (TCO) by 50% compared to traditional DIY solutions. Over 90% of major global enterprises plan to establish their own sovereign AI and data platforms within three years, yet only 13% are currently implementing agentic and generative AI. These early adopters achieve twice the volume of AI output and fivefold economic benefits by focusing on sovereignty in their AI infrastructures. EDB Postgres AI is noted for eliminating complexity, offering a fully integrated platform for modern AI workloads, and enabling faster development and lower costs. It is reported to be three times faster to production, 51% lower in total cost, and simpler to manage at scale. Key highlights from the benchmark study include: - 67% lower development effort and 38% lower maintenance complexity compared to DIY cloud approaches. - 40%-43% fewer build steps required in typical in-house builds. - More than 90% fewer steps in the development stage, leading to significant productivity gains. - Over 55% lower total complexity compared to in-house data and AI management solutions. - EDB Postgres AI enables delivery of AI-enabled applications three times faster than DIY cloud solutions, reducing time to production from 28 weeks to 9. - 65% faster time-to-value, compressing a year-long build into weeks. - Up to 51% lower TCO over three years due to reduced infrastructure, licensing, and personnel costs.

Tech Optimizer

July 18, 2025

Redundant statistics slow down your Postgres? Try sampling in pg_stat_statements

pg_stat_statements is a PostgreSQL extension for monitoring query statistics, tracking execution counts, execution times, and row returns. It uses a hash table to store metrics for each query, identified by a key generated from four parameters: queryid, User OID, Database OID, and a toplevel flag. The extension can become a performance hindrance in high contention environments due to locking operations on the hash table. When numerous unique queries are executed, contention for the hash table can lead to significant performance drops. For example, with pg_stat_statements enabled, a system with 48 CPUs showed a TPS drop from 237,437 to 32,112 when executing unique queries. In contrast, with a high volume of similar queries on a 192 CPU machine, enabling pg_stat_statements resulted in a TPS of 484,338 compared to 1,015,425 with it disabled. Query sampling is introduced as a method to mitigate performance issues by recording metrics for only a fraction of executed queries. The pg_stat_statements.sample_rate parameter allows configuration of the proportion of queries tracked. However, sampling can lead to incomplete data and potential security risks if sensitive information is recorded in non-normalized form. Benchmark tests with varying sample_rate values showed that as the sample_rate decreased, TPS increased, and SpinDelay diminished. At a sample_rate of 1.0, TPS was lowest, while at 0.25 and below, SpinDelay effectively disappeared, indicating that sampling can significantly enhance performance under high contention conditions.

Tech Optimizer

July 18, 2025

Customer Success Stories: Regions Financial Corporation Drives the Future of Banking with EDB Postgres AI

Regions Financial Corporation is modernizing its technological infrastructure to enhance database capabilities and enable real-time data processing. The corporation is selecting a flexible database solution to align its application and technology teams, aiming to drive efficiency and improve customer experiences. A white paper detailing their transformation journey and the role of EDB Postgres is available for further insights.

Tech Optimizer

July 17, 2025

TigerData Launches Tiger Lake, Unifying Postgres and the Lakehouse for Real-Time Intelligence

TigerData has introduced Tiger Lake, an architectural layer that integrates the operational speed of Postgres with the analytical capabilities of lakehouses. This innovation allows for continuous, bidirectional data movement between operational databases and scalable cloud storage systems, eliminating the need for data duplication and complex pipelines. Tiger Lake enables real-time replication of Postgres tables into the lakehouse and synchronization of processed results back into Postgres. It is built into Tiger Postgres and enhanced by TimescaleDB, making it suitable for high-ingest, time-series data management. Tiger Lake is based on open standards, such as Apache Iceberg, allowing flexibility without vendor lock-in. It is currently in public beta, enabling users to stream data between Postgres and Iceberg-backed S3 storage, with future updates planned for enhanced querying and synchronization capabilities.

Tech Optimizer

July 17, 2025

AWS Open-Sources pgactive PostgreSQL Extension

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched pgactive, an open-source extension for PostgreSQL that enables active-active replication, allowing databases to stream data asynchronously between instances. Announced in June 2025, pgactive was previously proprietary within AWS's Relational Database Service (RDS) and first appeared in late 2023. The extension supports conflict resolution and bidirectional data syncing, enhancing resiliency for high-availability applications. It is available under the Apache 2.0 license, encouraging community contributions and customization. Pgactive's architecture includes logical replication slots and customizable conflict handlers, essential for fault-tolerant systems. The open-source model promotes transparency and peer review, with potential integrations discussed in developer communities. The initiative aims to transform enterprise database replication and empower developers to innovate without vendor lock-in.

Tech Optimizer

July 16, 2025

ParadeDB Raises Funds, Challenges Elasticsearch with Postgres Integration

Postgres, an open-source database management system, is experiencing a revival due to its compatibility with AI applications and its ability to manage structured data effectively. Despite its strengths, Postgres lacks native high-performance full-text search and analytics capabilities, leading organizations to use separate systems like Elasticsearch, which complicates data management. ParadeDB, an open-source extension developed in 2023, addresses these limitations by enabling sophisticated data search and analytics directly within Postgres, eliminating the need for data transfers. ParadeDB has gained traction, securing its first enterprise customer by early 2024 and recently completing a funding round for platform enhancements. Its integration with Postgres simplifies workflows and reduces operational overhead, making it a compelling alternative to traditional search solutions.