Postgres FM

Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides
Postgres FM

A weekly podcast about all things PostgreSQL

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    Mean vs p99

    Nikolay and Michael discuss looking at queries by mean time — when it makes sense, why ordering by a percentile (like p99) might be better, and the merits of approximating percentiles in pg_stat_statements using the standard deviation column. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Approximate the p99 of a query with pg_stat_statements (blog post by Michael) https://www.pgmustard.com/blog/approximate-the-p99-of-a-query-with-pgstatstatementspg_stat_statements https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/pgstatstatements.html Our episode about track_planning https://postgres.fm/episodes/pg-stat-statements-track-planning pg_stat_monitor https://github.com/percona/pg_stat_monitorstatement_timeout https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-client.html#GUC-STATEMENT-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

    39 min

  2. 6 JUN

    What to log

    Nikolay and Michael discuss logging in Postgres — mostly what to log, and why changing quite a few settings can pay off big time in the long term. Here are some links to things they mentioned: What to log https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-LOGGING-WHATOur episode about Auditing https://postgres.fm/episodes/auditing Our episode on auto_explain https://postgres.fm/episodes/auto_explain  Here are the parameters they mentioned changing: log_checkpointslog_autovacuum_min_duration log_statementlog_connections and log_disconnectionslog_lock_waitslog_temp_fileslog_min_duration_statement log_min_duration_sample and log_statement_sample_rate  And finally, some very useful tools they meant to mention but forgot to!    https://pgpedia.infohttps://postgresqlco.nfhttps://why-upgrade.depesz.com/show?from=16.9&to=17.5  ~~~ 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

    49 min

  3. 30 MAY

    How to move off RDS

    Nikolay and Michael discuss moving off managed services — when and why you might want to, and some tips on how for very large databases. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Patroni https://github.com/patroni/patronipgBackRest https://github.com/pgbackrest/pgbackrestWAL-G https://github.com/wal-g/wal-gHetzner Cloud https://www.hetzner.com/cloudPostgres Extensions Day https://pgext.daypg_wait_sampling https://github.com/postgrespro/pg_wait_samplingpg_stat_kcache https://github.com/powa-team/pg_stat_kcacheauto_explain https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auto-explain.htmlFivetran https://www.fivetran.compgcopydb https://github.com/dimitri/pgcopydbKafka https://kafka.apache.orgDebezium https://debezium.iomax_slot_wal_keep_size https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-replication.html#GUC-MAX-SLOT-WAL-KEEP-SIZElog_statement DDL https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-STATEMENTPgBouncer pause/resume https://www.pgbouncer.org/usage.html#pause-db ~~~ 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

  4. 23 MAY

    Locks

    Nikolay and Michael discuss heavyweight locks in Postgres — how to think about them, why you can't avoid them, and some tips for minimising issues. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Locking (docs) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/explicit-locking.htmlPostgres rocks, except when it blocks (blog post by Marco Slot) https://www.citusdata.com/blog/2018/02/15/when-postgresql-blocks/Lock Conflicts (tool by Hussein Nasser) https://pglocks.org/log_lock_waits (docs) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html#GUC-LOG-LOCK-WAITSHow to analyze heavyweight lock trees (guide by Nikolay) https://gitlab.com/postgres-ai/postgresql-consulting/postgres-howtos/-/blob/main/0042_how_to_analyze_heavyweight_locks_part_2.mdLock management (docs) https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-locks.htmlOur episode on zero-downtime migrations https://postgres.fm/episodes/zero-downtime-migrations ~~~ 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

    39 min

  5. 9 MAY

    Top ten dangerous issues

    Nikolay and Michael discuss ten dangerous Postgres related issues — ones that might be painful enough to get onto the CTO and even CEOs desk, and then what you can do proactively. The ten issues discussed are: Heavy lock contentionBloat control and index maintenance  Lightweight lock contentionTransaction ID wraparound4-byte integer PKs hitting the limitReplication limitsHard limitsData lossPoor HA choice (split brain)Corruption of various kinds Some previous episodes they mentioned that cover the issues in more detail:  PgDog https://postgres.fm/episodes/pgdogPerformance cliffs https://postgres.fm/episodes/performance-cliffsZero-downtime migrations https://postgres.fm/episodes/zero-downtime-migrations Queues in Postgres https://postgres.fm/episodes/queues-in-postgresBloat https://postgres.fm/episodes/bloatIndex maintenance https://postgres.fm/episodes/index-maintenanceSubtransactions https://postgres.fm/episodes/subtransactionsFour million TPS https://postgres.fm/episodes/four-million-tpsTransaction ID wraparound https://postgres.fm/episodes/transaction-id-wraparoundpg_squeeze https://postgres.fm/episodes/pg_squeeze synchronous_commit https://postgres.fm/episodes/synchronous_commitManaged service support https://postgres.fm/episodes/managed-service-support  And finally, some other things they mentioned:  A great recent SQL Server-related podcast episode on tuning techniques https://kendralittle.com/2024/05/20/erik-darling-and-kendra-little-rate-sql-server-performance-tuning-techniques/Postgres Indexes, Partitioning and LWLock:LockManager Scalability (blog post by Jeremy Schneider) https://ardentperf.com/2024/03/03/postgres-indexes-partitioning-and-lwlocklockmanager-scalability/Do you vacuum everyday? (talk by Hannu Krosing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcRi8Z7rkPgpg_stat_wal https://pgpedia.info/p/pg_stat_wal.htmlThe benefit of lz4 and zstd for Postgres WAL compression (Small Datum blog, Mark Callaghan) https://smalldatum.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-benefit-of-lz4-and-zstd-for.htmlSplit-brain in case of network partition (CloudNativePG issue/discussion) https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/discussions/7462  ~~~ 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

  6. 2 MAY

    synchronous_commit

    Nikolay and Michael discuss synchronous_commit — what it means on single node setups, for synchronous replication setups, and the pros and cons of the different options for each. Here are some links to things they mentioned: synchronous_commit https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-wal.html#GUC-SYNCHRONOUS-COMMITsynchronous_commit history on pgPedia https://pgpedia.info/s/synchronous_commit.htmlPatroni’s maximum_lag_on_failover setting https://patroni.readthedocs.io/en/master/replication_modes.html#asynchronous-mode-durabilitywal_writer_delay https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-wal.html#GUC-WAL-WRITER-DELAYSelective asynchronous commits in PostgreSQL - balancing durability and performance (blog post by Shayon Mukherjee) https://www.shayon.dev/post/2025/75/selective-asynchronous-commits-in-postgresql-balancing-durability-and-performance/Asynchronous Commit https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/wal-async-commit.htmlsynchronous_standby_names https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-replication.html#GUC-SYNCHRONOUS-STANDBY-NAMESJepson article about Amazon RDS multi-AZ clusters (by Kyle Kingsbury, aka "Aphyr”) https://jepsen.io/analyses/amazon-rds-for-postgresql-17.4 ~~~ 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

    51 min

  7. 25 APR

    Managed service support

    Nikolay and Michael discuss managed service support — some tips on how to handle cases that aren't going well, tips for requesting features, whether to factor in support when choosing service provider, and whether to use one at all. Here are some links to things they mentioned: YugabyteDB’s new upgrade framework https://www.yugabyte.com/blog/postgresql-upgrade-frameworkEpisode on Blue-green deployments https://postgres.fm/episodes/blue-green-deploymentspg_createsubscriber https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgcreatesubscriber.html ~~~ 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

    36 min

  8. 11 APR

    Time-series considerations

    Nikolay and Michael discuss time-series considerations for Postgres — including when it matters, some tips for avoiding issues, performance considerations, and more. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Time series data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_seriesTimescaleDB https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb13 Tips to Improve PostgreSQL Insert Performance https://www.timescale.com/blog/13-tips-to-improve-postgresql-insert-performanceWhy we're leaving the cloud (37 Signals / Basecamp / David Heinemeier Hansson) https://world.hey.com/dhh/why-we-re-leaving-the-cloud-654b47e0UUID v7 and partitioning (“how to” by Nikolay) https://gitlab.com/postgres-ai/postgresql-consulting/postgres-howtos/-/blob/main/0065_uuid_v7_and_partitioning_timescaledb.mdpg_cron https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cronpg_partman https://github.com/pgpartman/pg_partmanOur episode on BRIN indexes https://postgres.fm/episodes/brin-indexesTutorial from Citus (Andres Freund and Marco Slot) including rollups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ybz6zuXCPoIoT with PostgreSQL (talk by Chris Ellis) https://youtube.com/watch?v=KnUoDBGv4aw&t=58pg_timeseries https://github.com/tembo-io/pg_timeseriesDuckDB https://duckdb.org~~~ 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
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About

A weekly podcast about all things PostgreSQL

Information

  • Creator
    Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    148
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Nikolay Samokhvalov and Michael Christofides

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