Thread: How big a database will PostgreSQL support?

Hello,

We have a database project that we are going to be designing, and I
was wondering how big can things get? I am new at this stuff, so I
really have no idea as to what the limitations really are.
Does anyone have approximate numbers in terms of # of tables, rows and
columns? Are there any formulas or rules of thumb that one can apply?

Also, in terms of database design, am I better off having one big table
with 10 million rows or 1000 tables with 10000 rows?

Thank you for your assistance.

--
Damien Tougas, P.Eng.
Converging Technology Solutions, Inc.
Phone: (780)469-1679
Fax: (780)461-5127
E-mail: dtougas@converging.net
http://www.converging.net

Damien Tougas wrote:
>
> We have a database project that we are going to be designing, and I
> was wondering how big can things get? I am new at this stuff, so I
> really have no idea as to what the limitations really are.
> Does anyone have approximate numbers in terms of # of tables, rows and
> columns? Are there any formulas or rules of thumb that one can apply?

    http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq-english.html#4.6
    http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq-english.html#4.7

> Also, in terms of database design, am I better off having one big table
> with 10 million rows or 1000 tables with 10000 rows?

Seems like each time someone asks questions like this, a few people will
say, "It all depends...define your requirements, study up on E-R modelling
and normalization in the process of defining your data model, and then
you'll be on your way to answering these questions."  Others will jump in
and start designing your tables for you.  Sounds like the former might be
advisable.

Regards,
Ed Loehr

> Hello,
>
> Also, in terms of database design, am I better off having one big table
> with 10 million rows or 1000 tables with 10000 rows?
>

 In terms of speed I've found out, that on large tables with >1000000
rows the speed of inserts and update may be more critical then the
speed for selects - depending on the indices you've defined for that
table.

 If you've more smaller tables the work for insert and updates is
not that problem.

 Marten