PostgreSQL Database Administration

Overview
This is a comprehensive course on administering PostgresSQL databases on both Linux and Unix platforms. It covers the usual DBA duties and responsibilities such as installation, backup and recovery, security, physical database design and optimisation. In addition it overviews more advanced topics such as compiling PostgresSQL from sources, and importing and exporting data, authentication and encryption.
The course will cover the use of scripts for database administration and backup in a generic way. (i.e. knowledge of scripting languages such as Perl or Tcl, or of shells such as Bash or the Korn Shell will not be assumed). If needed (and if there is sufficient demand) this topic can be added as an extra (fourth) day of the course.

Key Skills

• PostgresSQL installation
• Specifying and enforcing a security policy
• Setting up accounts and conferring user priviledges
• Backup and recovery - planning and execution
• Optimisation
• Working with session encryption
• Compiling PostgresSQL from sources

Practical Work
About 40% of the course time will be allocated to practical exercises, and workshops.
Attendees will be given a CD containing the compiled and source code for the most recent stable release of PostgresSQL, as well as a collection of applications that enhance the usefulness of PostgreSQL. The CD will contain a selection of PostgresSQL administrative tools, and the scripts necessary to install and run the class database.

• Estimation of data volumes, transaction processing loads, time to perform a backup and recovery.
• PostgresSQL installation under Linux/Unix
• Building and dropping indexes
• Implementing scripts (by studying and modifying a template script) for performing backups
• Carrying out a full database recovery
• Observing the effects of carrying out tuning and optimisation procedures
• Exploring the security mechanisms present in PostgresSQL

Course Contents
Responsibilities of a DBA

• Making data available
• Maintaining Database Integrity
• Data backup and recover
• Disaster recovery
• User support (helpdesk support)
• Determining, specifying and enforcing standards

Physical Database Design

• Database/Table model
• Dedicated partitions
• Table Types, Table Locks, and Columns
• Indexes
• File Descriptors
• System memory
• Log Files
• RAID

Database Management

• Stopping and starting PostgresSQL
• Intialising the file system
• Creating and Removing a Database
• Checking and Repairing Tables
• Devising and Implementing Backup and Recovery Plans
• Data export and data import

Optimisation

• Benchmarking
• Design optimisation
• Application level optimisation
• Query optimisation
• SQL statement optimisation
• Server configuration tuning
• PL/pgSQL stored procedures and triggers and optimisation

Security

• PostgresSQL Permissions Scheme
• Managing users and groups
• Granting privileges
• Client authentication
• Encrypting sessions
• Devising and Enforcing a Security Policy
• Audit and security