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PostgreSQL DBA
Step by step guide to becoming a modern PostgreSQL DB Administrator in 2022

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The intent of this guide is to give you an idea about the DBA landscape and to help guide your
learning if you are confused. The roadmap is highly opinionated — neither, knowing everything
listed in the roadmap, nor the order of items given in the roadmap is required to be followed in
order to be a DBA.

Learn basic RDBMS terms and concepts

Get basic understanding of Postgres key terms and basic RDBMS concepts.

Object model: data types, columns, rows, tables, schemas, databases, queries.
Relational model: domains, attributes, tuples, relations, constraints, NULL.
Databases high-level concepts: ACID, MVCC, transactions, write-ahead log, query
processing.
Links:

Postgres Glossary
SQL and Relational Theory - Christopher J. Date, 2009
Database Design and Relational Theory - Christopher J. Date, 2012

Learn how to install and run PostgreSQL

Get practical skills of how to set up and run Postgres to get a working environment for further
learning.

Using package managers (APT, YUM, etc.)

Using docker .
Managing Postgres service using systemd (start, stop, restart, reload).
Managing Postgres service using pg_ctl , or OS-specific tools (like pg_ctlcluster ).
 Connect to Postgres using psql .
Deploy database service in cloud environment (AWS, GCE, Azure, Heroku, DigitalOcean,
etc...).
Links:

Official download and install instructions

Official Docker images

Learn SQL concepts

Get practical skills of how to create and manipulate database objects and how to execute
queries using psql client.

Understand basic data types.

DML queries: querying data, modifying data, filtering data, joining tables.

Advanced topics: transactions, CTE, subqueries, lateral join, grouping, set operations.

DDL queries: managing tables and schemas (create, alter, drop).

Import and export data using COPY .
Links:

DB Fiddle
PostgreSQL Tutorial
PostgreSQL SQL Getting Started
The SQL Language

Learn how to configure Postgres

Get understanding of the main aspects of how Postgres could be configured. Deep
understanding of Postgres internals is not yet necessary here.

postgresql.conf:

Resources usage
Write-ahead Log
Checkpoints and Background Writer
Cost-based vacuum and auto-vacuum
Replication
Query planner
 Reporting, logging and statistics
Adding extra extensions
...keep exploring other configuration options

Links:

Postgresqlco.nf

Learn Postgres security concepts

Get understanding about basic security concepts and common ways of how to deploy secure
configurations.

Authentication models, roles, pg_hba.conf, SSL settings.

Objects privileges: grant/revoke, default privileges.
Advanced topics - row-level security, selinux.
Links:

Client authentication
Roles and users managements

Develop infrastructure DBA skills

Get practical skills of how to deploy, extend, maintain and support Postgres installations and 3rd-
party Postgres ecosystem software.

Replication: streaming replication, logical replication

Backup/recovery tools:

Built-in: pg_dump , pg_dumpall , pg_restore , pg_basebackup

3rd-party: barman , pgbackrest , pg_probackup , WAL-G
Backup validation procedures

Upgrading procedures

Minor and major upgrades using pg_upgrade

Upgrades using logical replication

Connection pooling:

Pgbouncer
Alternatives: Pgpool-II , Odyssey , Pgagroal
 Infrastructure monitoring: Prometheus , Zabbix , other favourite monitoring solution
High availability and cluster management tools:

Patroni
Alternatives: Repmgr , Stolon , pg_auto_failover , PAF

Applications Load Balancing and Service Discovery: Haproxy , Keepalived , Consul ,

Etcd
Deploy Postgres on Kubernetes : Simple StatefulSet setup, HELM , operators
Resource usage and provisioning, capacity planning

Learn how to automate routines

Get practical skills, learn automation tools and automate existing routine tasks.

Automation using shell scripts or any other favourite language ( Bash , Python , Perl ,
etc)
Configuration management: Ansible , Salt , Chef , Puppet

Develop application DBA skills

Learn theory and get practical skills of how applications should work with Postgres

Migrations:

practical patterns and antipatterns

tools: liquibase , sqitch , language-specific tools

Data import/export, bulk loading and processing

Queues:

practical patterns and anti-patterns

Skytools PGQ

Data partitioning and sharding patterns.

Database normalization and normal forms.
Books:

The Art of PostgreSQL - Dimitri Fontaine, 2020

Learn Postgres advanced topics

Here is important to continuously extend and develop existing knowledge about Postgres.

Low level internals:

Processes and memory architecture

Vacuum processing
Buffer management
Lock management
Physical storage and file layout
System catalog

Fine-grained tuning:

Per-user, per-database settings

Storage parameters
Workload-dependant tuning: OLTP, OLAP, HTAP

Advanced SQL topics:

PL/pgSQL, procedures and functions, triggers

Aggregate and window functions
Recursive CTE

Links:

The Internals of PostgreSQL for database administrators and system developers

PL/pgSQL Guide

Learn Postgres troubleshooting techniques

Get basic understanding about troubleshooting tools and get practical skills of how to detect and
resolve problems.

Operating system tools

top ( htop , atop )

sysstat
iotop

Postgres system views

pg_stat_activity
 pg_stat_statements

Postgres tools

pgcenter - personal recommendation

Query analyzing:

EXPLAIN
Depesz online EXPLAIN visualization tool
PEV online EXPLAIN visualization tool
Tensor online EXPLAIN visualization tool, RU language only

Log analyzing:

pgBadger
Ad-hoc analyzing using grep , awk , sed , etc.

External tracing/profiling tools: gdb , strace , perf-tools , ebpf , core dumps

Troubleshooting methods: USE, RED, Golden signals
Links:

Linux Performance by Brendan Gregg

USE Method

Learn SQL optimization technics

Get understanding and practical skills of how to optimize SQL queries.

Indexes, and their use cases: B-tree, Hash, GiST, SP-GiST, GIN, BRIN
SQL queries patterns and anti-patterns
SQL schema design patterns and anti-patterns
Links:

Use the Index, Luke - a Guide to Database Performance for Developers

Books:

SQL Antipatterns: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Database Programming - Bill Karwin, 2010

Develop architect skills

Get deeper understanding of Postgres use cases and where Postgres is suitable and where is
not.

Postgres forks and extensions: Greenplum , Timescaledb , Citus , Postgres-XL ,

etc.
RDBMS in general, benefits and limitations
Differences between Postgres and other RDBMS and NoSQL databases

Develop Postgres hacker skills

Get involved to Postgres community and contribute to Postgres; be a useful member of Postgres,
and the open source community; use personal experience to help other people.

Daily reading and answering in mailing lists

pgsql-general
pgsql-admin
pgsql-performance
pgsql-hackers
pgsql-bugs

Reviewing patches
Writing patches, attending in Commitfests

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