This document provides an overview of PostgreSQL 9.6, highlighting its features such as parallel execution, improved replication, and enhanced full-text search capabilities. It discusses the strong community around PostgreSQL and the contributions of EnterpriseDB as a leading provider of PostgreSQL software and services. The presentation also lists new monitoring capabilities and substantial performance improvements, particularly for multi-CPU servers.

1. Major Features: Postgres 9.6
BRUCE MOMJIAN
POSTGRESQL is an open-source, full-featured relational database.
This presentation gives an overview of the Postgres 9.6 release.
Creative Commons Attribution License http://momjian.us/presentations
Last updated: September, 2016
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2. PostgreSQL the database…
Open Source Object Relational DBMS since 1996
Distributed under the PostgreSQL License
Similar technical heritage as Oracle, SQL Server & DB2
However, a strong adherence to standards (ANSI-SQL 2008)
Highly extensible and adaptable design
Languages, indexing, data types, etc.
E.g. PostGIS, JSONB, SQL/MED
Extensive use throughout the world for applications and
organizations of all types
Bundled into Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS
and Amazon Linux
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3. PostgreSQL the community…
Independent community led by a Core Team of six
Large, active and vibrant community
www.postgresql.org
Downloads, Mailing lists, Documentation
Sponsors sampler:
Google, Red Hat, VMWare, Skype, Salesforce, HP and
EnterpriseDB
http://www.postgresql.org/community/
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4. EnterpriseDB the company…
Leading worldwide provider of Postgres software and services
More than 3,500 enterprises, governments, and other
organizations worldwide
EDB Postgres Platform with:
PostgreSQL and EDB Postgres Advanced Server including
additional enterprise functionaility
Tool Suites for Management, Integration, and Migration,
including High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Professional Services, 24/7 global support, and Remote DBA
Training and Certification
Citizenship
Contributor of key features: Materialized Views, JSON, &
more
Nine community members on staff
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5. EnterpriseDB the company…
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6. EnterpriseDB Is a Leader
The Gartner report, Magic Quadrant for Operational Database Management Systems, by
Donald Feinberg, Merv Adrian, Nick Heudecker, Adam Ronthal, and Terilyn Palanca was
published October 12, 2015.
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7. 9.6 Feature Outline
1. Parallel execution of sequential scans, joins and aggregates
2. Avoid scanning pages unnecessarily during vacuum freeze
operations
3. Synchronous replication now allows multiple standby servers
for increased reliability
4. Full-text search can now search for phrases (multiple
adjacent words)
5. postgres_fdw now supports remote joins, sorts, UPDATEs,
and DELETEs
6. Substantial performance improvements, especially in the
area of scalability on multi-CPU-socket servers
7. Allow limiting of snapshot age
8. New monitoring capabilities
9. Allow long-idle transactions to be cancelled
Full item list at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/
release-9-6.html
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8. 1. Parallel Execution of Sequential Scans,
Joins and Aggregates
CREATE TABLE partest (x INTEGER);
INSERT INTO partest
SELECT * FROM generate_series(1, 2000000);
EXPLAIN SELECT count(*) FROM partest;
QUERY PLAN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aggregate (cost=37059.38..37059.39 rows=1 width=8)
-> Seq Scan on partest (cost=0.00..31417.50 rows=2256750 width=0)
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9. Parallel Aggregate and Sequential Scan
SET max_parallel_workers_per_gather = 8;
EXPLAIN SELECT count(*) FROM partest;
QUERY PLAN
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Finalize Aggregate (cost=21604.12..21604.13 rows=1 width=8)
-> Gather (cost=21603.90..21604.11 rows=2 width=8)
Workers Planned: 2
-> Partial Aggregate (cost=20603.90..20603.91 row…
-> Parallel Seq Scan on partest (cost=0.00..…
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10. 2. Avoid Scanning Pages Unnecessarily
During Vacuum Freeze Operations
Freezing of tables is occasionally necessary to guarantee safe
transaction id wraparound
Usually performed by autovacuum
Previously it scanned all heap pages
Now, only pages modified since the last freeze are scanned
Great benefit for rarely-written tables
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11. 3. Synchronous Replication Now Allows Multiple
Standby Servers for Increased Reliability
synchronous_standby_names controls which standby servers
the primary waits for to confirm commit
Previously, if multiple were specified, only the first connected
standby was waited for
Now, you can specify the number of connected standbys to
wait for, e.g. 2 (standby1, standby2, standby3)
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12. 4. Full-text Search Can Now Search
for Phrases (Multiple Adjacent Words)
You can now search for words positioned relative to other
words
’ice <-> cream’ matches strings with ’ice’ and ’cream’
adjacent and in order
’mutually <2> destruction’ matches a word in between
phraseto_tsquery() creates a tsquery with <-> between
each supplied word
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13. 5. postgres_fdw Now Supports Remote
Joins, Sorts, UPDATEs, and DELETEs
SQL Queries
Join, Sort
PG FDW
UPDATE, DELETE
Foreign Server Foreign Server Foreign Server
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14. 6. Substantial Performance Improvements,
Especially in the Area of Scalability
on Multi-CPU-Socket Servers
Sorting
Locking, especially for shared buffers
Checkpoints
Aggregates
File growth
Process title updates on Windows
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15. 7. Allow Limiting of Snapshot Age
Seession 1 Session 2
SHOW old_snapshot_threshold;
1min
CREATE TABLE snaptest (x int);
INSERT INTO snaptest VALUES (1);
BEGIN WORK;
SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;
SELECT * FROM snaptest;
1
UPDATE SNAPTEST SET x = 2;
SELECT pg_sleep(300);
VACUUM snaptest;
SELECT * FROM snaptest;
ERROR: snapshot too old
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16. 8. New Monitoring Capabilities
pg_stat_activity wait-type reporting
Vacuum progress reporting
pg_config system view
pg_control values exposed
New system view to monitor WAL receiver status
Notification queue monitoring
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17. 9. Allow Long-idle Transactions To Be Cancelled
SET idle_in_transaction_session_timeout = ’2s’;
BEGIN WORK;
-- sit idle for 3 seconds
SELECT 1;
FATAL: terminating connection due to idle-in-transaction timeout
server closed the connection unexpectedly
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18. Possible 10 Features
Additional parallelism
FDW enhancements for sharding
Partitioning syntax
Built-in logical replication
HOT improvements
Multivariate statistics
Client-side failover
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19. Additional Resources…
Postgres Downloads:
www.enterprisedb.com/downloads
Product and Services information:
info@enterprisedb.com
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20. Conclusion
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