To support my learning of PostgreSQL, Linux, Apache, Python and AWS, I searched for a demo application. As I couldn't find a suitable one, I wrote my own using the Adventureworks demo database. The result is maybe not the slickest online cycle shop in the world (or even particularly elegant from a code point of view), but it's a great starting point to test out many things. Like deployment options for PostgreSQL (including cloud), understanding PostgreSQL for an (ex-) Oracle DBA, data conversion and import to a database, etc…

1. Adventure(work)s with PostgreSQL in the Cloud
Alistair Parry

2. A bit of history - PostgreSQL and Me
1970: Birth of RDBMS
1973: IBM System R
1975: Ingres
1985: Postgres
1995: Postgres95
1996: PostgreSQL 10.0
1992: Informix 5.0
1995: Oracle 7
2005: Bought by IBM
Me
Relational Databases
MongoDB
12c
Cassandra
PostgreSQL
1995: Bought by Informix
Illustra
1979: Oracle
1980: Informix
GreenPlum
ICL IBM
1969: My Birth

3. What’s going on with databases?
“Big 3”

4. PostgreSQL is Everywhere !!

5. My hand-crafted PostgreSQL setup
(IBM Cloud – LON02)
Master Replica1
Client
Postgresql.conf
synchronous_commit = on # default
synchronous_standby_names = ANY 1 ( Replica1, Replica2) # ANY keyword 10.x only
WAL WAL
Postgres Receiver
Replica2
WAL
Receiver
Write
Request
Ack
Asynchronous write
Synchronous write
WAL Write Ahead Logs
Key:

6. AdventureWorks Demo Schema(s)

7. Schema Optimisation Example
s3_image_name
}
ProductCategory
ProductDescription
SizeUnitMeasureName
WeightUnitMeasureName
{ “productid” : 712,
“productref” : “CA-1098”
“name” : “AWC Logo Cap”,
“category” : “Clothing->Caps ”,
“listprice” : 8.99,
“saleprice” : 4.99,
“color” : ”Multi”,
“description” : “Traditional style with a flip-up brim; one-size fits all.”,
“introdate” : “2014-02-08”,
“s3imagename” : “AWC_Cap.jpg” }

8. AdventureWorks Application Architecture
CGI
psycopg2
PostgreSQL
client
Amazon EC2
images
html
html
css

9. What Next?
CGI
psycopg2
PostgreSQL
client
Amazon EC2
html
html
css
boto3

10. Conclusions
• Relational Databases are very much alive and well
• PostgreSQL is doing well – challenging the “Big 3” RDBMSs
• PostgreSQL is Open Source and can be deployed almost anywhere
• Open Source might not be free – think about who will support you
• NoSQL market is fragmented – who will be the winners and losers?
• RDBMS -> PostgreSQL schema conversion …
• Don’t take normalisation too far (borrow ideas from NoSQL)
• Take the opportunity to redesign & optimise (e.g. S3 for photos)
• Think about how the data will be accessed – make it fast

11. Thank You
alistair.parry@uk.ibm.com