Postgres FM

Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides
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A weekly podcast about all things PostgreSQL

  1. 19 hr ago

    pgBackRest

    Nik and Michael are joined by David Steele to talk all things pgBackRest. Here are some links to things they mentioned:  David Steele https://postgres.fm/people/david-steelepgBackRest https://pgbackrest.orgpg_basebackup https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgbasebackup.htmlBarman https://pgbarman.orgpgmoneta https://github.com/pgmoneta/pgmonetaWAL-G https://github.com/wal-g/wal-gReturn pg_control from pg_backup_stop (patch proposal) https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/86436ff9-eb98-4c8a-825e-3bcae022107b%40pgbackrest.org#e36e2ad2f410d1a9a1152e36aa66bb48Add StorageReadMulti for prefetched multi-file/range reads from object stores (pgBackRest change that needs review) https://github.com/pgbackrest/pgbackrest/pull/2783pg_hardstorage https://github.com/cybertec-postgresql/pg_hardstorageWhy the cycle of open-source sustainability needs to be virtuous (blog post by Gabriele Bartolini) https://www.gabrielebartolini.it/articles/2026/04/why-the-cycle-of-open-source-sustainability-needs-to-be-virtuousARIN https://www.arin.netStefan Fercot https://pgstef.github.io/aboutpgBackRest sponsors at the time of recording: AWS, Supabase, pgEdge, Tiger Data, Percona, Eon, Xata, Dalibo, Data Egret ~~~ 00:00 – Intro & pgBackRest origin story03:07 – Could pgBackRest live in Postgres core? Why it hasn't happened11:37 – Primary vs. standby backups & corruption safety20:36 – Measuring RPO & RTO in practice26:20 – Checksum performance & S3 storage class tips30:02 – Standby replay bottleneck35:12 – Log shipping, streaming replication, and sharding44:56 – Maintenance reality & the sponsorship crisis47:41 – What's next: repo-to-repo backup & RPO-zero streaming56:00 – Incremental backup1:05:01 – Reliability philosophy1:10:05 – Second maintainer, community growth & wrap-up ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    1hr 13min

  2. 29 May

    autovacuum

    Nik and Michael discuss autovacuum, including what it does, and the basics of why and how to tune it.  Here are some links to things they mentioned:  autovacuum https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/routine-vacuuming.html#AUTOVACUUMautovacuum configuration parameters https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-vacuum.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-AUTOVACUUMWhat’s Missing in Postgres? (our episode with Bruce Momjian) https://postgres.fm/episodes/what-s-missing-in-postgrespg_squeeze (our episode with Antonín Houska) https://postgres.fm/episodes/pg_squeezeMy queries to monitor autovacuum (post by Laurenz Albe) https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/monitor-autovacuum-my-queries/Autovacuum Tuning Basics (post by Tomas Vondra, originally for 2nd Quadrant blog) https://www.enterprisedb.com/blog/autovacuum-tuning-basicsZero autovacuum_vacuum_cost_delay, Write Storms, and You (post by Jeremy Schneider) https://ardentperf.com/2026/04/12/zero-autovacuum_cost_delay-write-storms-and-you/Our episode on long-running transactions / xmin horizon https://postgres.fm/episodes/long-running-transactions ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    46 min

  3. 15 May

    pg_flight_recorder

    Nik and Michael are joined by David Ventimiglia to discuss pg_flight_recorder, a new tool he created for monitoring a Postgres database from within. Here are some links to things they mentioned:  David Ventimiglia https://postgres.fm/people/david-ventimigliapg_flight_recorder https://github.com/dventimisupabase/pg_flight_recorderSupabase https://supabase.compg_wait_sampling https://github.com/postgrespro/pg_wait_samplingpg_ash https://github.com/NikolayS/pg_ashpg_cron https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cronpg_tle https://github.com/aws/pg_tle ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    43 min

  4. 8 May

    PgQue

    Nik and Michael discuss Nik's new project PgQue, a descendent of Skype's PgQ, for running queue-like workloads in Postgres. Here are some links to things they mentioned:  Our first episode on Queues in Postgres https://postgres.fm/episodes/queues-in-postgresPgQue https://github.com/NikolayS/pgqueHN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817349PgQ https://github.com/pgq/pgqpgmq https://github.com/pgmq/pgmqRiver https://riverqueue.comKeeping a Postgres queue healthy (blog post by Simeon Griggs / PlanetScale) https://planetscale.com/blog/keeping-a-postgres-queue-healthyPostgres Job Queues & Failure By MVCC (blog post by Brandur) https://brandur.org/postgres-queuesMy queries to monitor autovacuum (blog post by Laurenz Albe) https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/monitor-autovacuum-my-queries/SELECT FOR UPDATE considered harmful (blog post by Laurenz Albe) https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/select-for-update-considered-harmful-postgresql/Christophe Pettus blog post https://thebuild.com/blog/2026/05/03/pgque-two-snapshots-and-a-diffOur episode on pg_ash https://postgres.fm/episodes/pg_ashRediscovering PgQ (Alexander Kukushkin slides) https://speakerdeck.com/cyberdemn/rediscovering-pgqTick frequency tuning https://github.com/NikolayS/PgQue/blob/main/docs/tick-frequency.md ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    47 min

  5. 24 Apr

    pg_wait_tracer

    Nik and Michael are joined by Dmitry Fomin to discuss his new tool pg_wait_tracer, as well as changes that could be made to core to allow wait event tracing with lower overhead, and on managed services. Here are some links to things they mentioned:  Dmitry Fomin https://postgres.fm/people/dmitry-fominpg_wait_tracer https://github.com/DmitryNFomin/pg_wait_tracerpg_wait_sampling https://github.com/postgrespro/pg_wait_samplingpg_10046 https://github.com/DmitryNFomin/pg_10046Jeremy Schneider reply on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7414966981847748608RDS for PostgreSQL wait event docs https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/PostgreSQL.Tuning.concepts.summary.htmlCustom wait events for extensions (added in PostgreSQL 17) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/xfunc-c.html#XFUNC-ADDIN-WAIT-EVENTSHacking Postgres with Dmitry, Kirk, and Nik (Part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gtuc2lnnsEHacking Postgres with Dmitry, Kirk, and Nik (Part 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqpjnpl5GcTanel Poder https://tanelpoder.com/about/USDT static tracepoints for wait event tracing (proof of concept by Nik) https://github.com/NikolayS/postgres/pull/18Add wait_event_timing: Oracle-style wait event instrumentation (patch by Dmitry) https://github.com/DmitryNFomin/postgres/pull/1PgQue benchmarks https://github.com/NikolayS/pgque/blob/main/docs/benchmarks.mdThe Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis Techniques for Experimental Design, Measurement, Simulation and Modeling (by Raj K. Jain) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259310412_The_Art_of_Computer_Systems_Performance_Analysis_Techniques_For_Experimental_Design_Measurement_Simulation_and_Modeling_NY_WileyPerformance modeling and design of computer systems queueing theory in action (by Prof. Mor Harchol-Balter) https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/PerformanceModeling/book.htmlOracle Performance Firefighting (by Craig_Shallahamer) https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780984102303/Oracle-Performance-Firefighting-Craig-Shallahamer-0984102302/plpProcess Mining: Data Science in Action (by Wil van der Aalst) https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-49851-4 ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    44 min

  6. 17 Apr

    Schema design checklist

    Nik and Michael discuss a list of things to check when designing new schema in Postgres. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Use BIGINT in Postgres (blog post by Ryan Lambert) https://blog.rustprooflabs.com/2021/06/postgres-bigint-by-defaultPostgres 18 and UUIDv7 (blog post by Gwen Shapira) https://www.thenile.dev/blog/uuidv7How to use UUID (how-to guide by Nik) https://postgres.ai/docs/postgres-howtos/schema-design/data-types/how-to-use-uuidOur episode on constraints https://postgres.fm/episodes/constraintsOur episode on NULLs https://postgres.fm/episodes/nulls-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-and-the-unknownMultiXact member space exhaustion episode (with Metronome) https://postgres.fm/episodes/multixact-member-space-exhaustionOur Column Tetris episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/column-tetrisSaving Space Basically for Free (blog post by James Coleman from Braintree) https://medium.com/paypal-tech/postgresql-at-scale-saving-space-basically-for-free-d94483d9ed9aOver-indexing episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/over-indexingUnder-indexing episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/under-indexingGadget's use of Postgres https://postgres.fm/episodes/gadgets-use-of-postgresPartitioning episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/partitioningRLS vs performance episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/rls-vs-performance ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    45 min

  7. 3 Apr

    What’s Missing in Postgres?

    Nik and Michael are joined by Bruce Momjian to discuss his new talk "What’s Missing in Postgres?" Here are some links to things they mentioned:  Bruce Momjian https://postgres.fm/people/bruce-momjianEDB https://www.enterprisedb.comWhat’s Missing in Postgres? (Bruce’s slides) https://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/missing.pdfThe Wonderful World of WAL (Bruce’s slides) https://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/wal.pdfGetting started with benchmarking (our episode with Melanie Plageman) https://postgres.fm/episodes/getting-started-with-benchmarkingMyths and Truths about Synchronous Replication in Postgres (talk by Alexander Kukushkin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFn9qRGzTMcThe Future of Postgres Sharding (Bruce’s slides) https://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/sharding.pdfMultiXact member space exhaustion https://postgres.fm/episodes/multixact-member-space-exhaustion ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    44 min

  8. 27 Mar

    Long-running transactions

    Nik and Michael discuss long-running transactions, including when they're harmless, when they cause issues, and how to mitigate those issues. Here are some links to things they mentioned:  transaction_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-TRANSACTION-TIMEOUTOur episode on transaction_timeout https://postgres.fm/episodes/transaction_timeoutOur episode on slow queries (which was also our first ever episode!) https://postgres.fm/episodes/slow-queries-and-slow-transactionsOur episode on locks https://postgres.fm/episodes/lockslock_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-LOCK-TIMEOUTTransaction Isolation levels https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/transaction-iso.htmlpg_current_xact_id_if_assigned() https://pgpedia.info/p/pg_current_xact_id_if_assigned.htmlMonitor xmin horizon to prevent XID/MultiXID wraparound and high bloat (how-to guide by Nik) https://postgres.ai/docs/postgres-howtos/performance-optimization/monitoring/how-to-monitor-xmin-horizonidle_replication_slot_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-replication.html#GUC-IDLE-REPLICATION-SLOT-TIMEOUTPREPARE TRANSACTION https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-prepare-transaction.htmllog_autovacuum_min_duration https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-AUTOVACUUM-MIN-DURATIONPostgreSQL Subtransactions Considered Harmful (blog post by Nikolay) https://postgres.ai/blog/20210831-postgresql-subtransactions-considered-harmfulstatement_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-STATEMENT-TIMEOUTidle_in_transaction_session_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-IDLE-IN-TRANSACTION-SESSION-TIMEOUTlock_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-LOCK-TIMEOUT ~~~ What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc! ~~~ Postgres FM is produced by: Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.ai With credit to: Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

    48 min
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About

A weekly podcast about all things PostgreSQL

Information

  • Creator
    Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    182
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides

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