The pg_bulkload utility is the one that provides a lot more flexibility than the COPY utility. The biggest advantage of pg_bulkload is speed. This utility lets us skip the shared buffers and WAL logging. This also implies a separate recovery process if something goes wrong. This is facilitated by postgresql, a script that comes with the pg_bulkload installation.
We will start with the installation of the utility. To do this, follow these steps:
Download the source with the following command:
wget \ http://pgfoundry.org/frs/download.php/3653/pg_bulkload-\ 3.1.6.tar.gz
Extract the contents as follows:
tar xvf ./pg_bulkload-3.1.6.tar.gz
Change the directory with the following command:
cd pg_bulkload-3.1.6
Make and install the binaries:
make USE_PGXS=1
Then, use
suwith the following command:make USE_PGXS=1 install
Install the extension. Log in to the database where we will be using the utility and at the psql prompt:
CREATE EXTENSION pg_bulkload; CREATE EXTENSION
We will see...