PostgreSQL Administration

Summary

In this chapter, we first looked at the layout of a PostgreSQL installation, in particular it’s configuration files and the key options in those files we might want to adjust. Then we looked at database initialization and server control.

Next, we discussed how we can manage the internals of a PostgreSQL server: creating databases, adding users, and managing how PostgreSQL places the physical files underlying the internal databases.

Then we looked at performing backups. Finally, we saw some simple measures we might take to maintain, or even improve, database performance.

The most important topic in this chapter was backups. However reliable PostgreSQL is—and it is very reliable—we cannot stress how important it is that you not only back up your data regularly, but also that you have tested how you would restore that data before you suffer a data loss. However, please don’t experiment with restoring data on a production server; mistakes can be serious.

In the next chapter, we will return to the topic of database design, which we looked at briefly in Chapter 2. It presents more formal guidelines for how to design a database, and how to enforce data integrity using constraints, which we met in Chapter 8.