Book Image

Mastering PostgreSQL 15 - Fifth Edition

By : Hans-Jürgen Schönig
Book Image

Mastering PostgreSQL 15 - Fifth Edition

By: Hans-Jürgen Schönig

Overview of this book

Starting with an introduction to the newly released features of PostgreSQL 15, this updated fifth edition will help you get to grips with PostgreSQL administration and how to build dynamic database solutions for enterprise apps, including designing both physical and technical aspects of the system. You'll explore advanced PostgreSQL features, such as logical replication, database clusters, advanced indexing, and user management to manage and maintain your database. You'll then work with the PostgreSQL optimizer, configure PostgreSQL for high speed, and move from Oracle to PostgreSQL. Among the other skills that the book will help you build, you’ll cover transactions, handling recursions, working with JSON and JSONB data, and setting up a Patroni cluster. It will show you how to improve performance with query optimization. You'll also focus on managing network security and work with backups and replication while exploring useful PostgreSQL extensions that optimize the performance of large databases. By the end of this PostgreSQL book, you’ll be able to use your database to its utmost capacity by implementing advanced administrative tasks with ease.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Understanding Transactions and Locking

Now that we’ve been introduced to PostgreSQL 15, we want to focus our attention on the next important topic. Locking is a vital concept for any kind of database. It is not enough to understand just how locking works to write proper or better applications – it is also essential from a performance point of view. Without handling locks properly, your applications might not only be slow; they might also behave in very unexpected ways. In my opinion, locking is the key to performance, and having a good overview of this will certainly help. Therefore, understanding locking and transactions is important for administrators and developers alike.

In this chapter, you will learn about the following topics:

  • Working with PostgreSQL transactions
  • Understanding basic locking
  • Making use of FOR SHARE and FOR UPDATE
  • Understanding transaction isolation levels
  • Observing deadlocks and similar issues
  • Utilizing advisory locks
  • Optimizing storage and managing cleanups

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to understand and utilize PostgreSQL transactions in the most efficient way possible. You will see that many applications can benefit from improved performance.