Thread: DBA Book - Not "postgresql book - practical or something newer?"

Unfortunately there isn't a current version of Joshua Drake's book out
there (which I do own along with PostgreSQL Essential Reference by
Stinson), so alternatively, can anyone recommend a good DBA book
outlining best practices, physical design, etc? I would like something
that is relevant to PostgreSQL even though it won't likely be PostgreSQL
specific. Based on current best practices I could then investigate which
tools postgres has available to implement them.

Currently our small company has a single redhat server for the database
and web server, backups obviously are on a separate box. We want to add
hardware over the next few months and would like to/need to separate
functions and take advantage of things like: replication, PITR,
clustering, failover, plgpsql, material view perhaps, and likely more
which would be useful to speed up and protect our data.

I want to increase my DBA and postgres skills prior to the upgrade, and
would like some direction from somewhere (book, group) on where to go
from here. Our current database is about 50G large and is a fairly
straightforward setup. I am the DBA and am also one of the developers,
and my practical DBA knowledge comes from setting up our database and
administering it. I make use of views and plpgsql, but from following
the lists realize that there are many more tools available in postgres
that could be used.

Two possible references I found are:
- “Physical Database Design: the database professional's guide to
exploiting indexes, views, storage, and more” by S. Lightstone, T.
Teorey, T. Nadeau
http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Database-Design-professionals-exploiting/dp/0123693896
- "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to Practices and
Procedures" by Craig S. Mullins

http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202257162&sr=8-1
Can anyone recommend these, or others?


Any and all suggestions welcome.

Thanks

Ron

Joe Celko's "SQL Programming Style" is a good not vendor-specific book.

As for PostgreSQL-specific books, I can only speak for one I read before: Bruce Momjian's "PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts". It is a good introductionary book, although it isn't based on PostgreSQL 8 series.




--
Sincerely yours,
Olexandr Melnyk <><
http://omelnyk.net/

Olexandr Melnyk wrote:
> Joe Celko's "SQL Programming Style" is a good not vendor-specific book.
> As for PostgreSQL-specific books, I can only speak for one I read
> before: Bruce Momjian's "PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts". It is
> a good introductionary book, although
> it isn't based on PostgreSQL 8 series.
>
Thanks Olexandr. I've got one of Celko's SQL books which I use as a
reference. I'm looking for something that will help me as we move from
our all-in-one server to something more robust. I want something that
will give me pointers on what's needed and maybe best practices. I don't
have any associates available to advise me on where my priorities should
be: failover of course, but which RAID for the db, when and how to
______ (cluster, use material views, numerous other things which
postgres has available, etc).

While there's a lot of information in the docs and flowing through the
lists, it doesn't provide me with what I need. Since there isn't an
updated version of Practical PostgreSQL to use as a guideline/reference
I have to look for a non-DBMS specific reference.

Ron

Olexandr Melnyk wrote:
> Joe Celko's "SQL Programming Style" is a good not vendor-specific book.

And maybe a bit too Developer/User-ish but very good his "SQL for Smarties".


Rod
--
>
> As for PostgreSQL-specific books, I can only speak for one I read
> before: Bruce Momjian's "PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts". It is a
> good introductionary book, although it isn't based on PostgreSQL 8 series.
>
> On 2/6/08, *Ron St-Pierre* <ron.pgsql@shaw.ca
> <mailto:ron.pgsql@shaw.ca>> wrote:
>
>     Unfortunately there isn't a current version of Joshua Drake's book out
>     there (which I do own along with PostgreSQL Essential Reference by
>     Stinson), so alternatively, can anyone recommend a good DBA book
>     outlining best practices, physical design, etc? I would like something
>     that is relevant to PostgreSQL even though it won't likely be PostgreSQL
>     specific. Based on current best practices I could then investigate which
>     tools postgres has available to implement them.
>
>     Currently our small company has a single redhat server for the database
>     and web server, backups obviously are on a separate box. We want to add
>     hardware over the next few months and would like to/need to separate
>     functions and take advantage of things like: replication, PITR,
>     clustering, failover, plgpsql, material view perhaps, and likely more
>     which would be useful to speed up and protect our data.
>
>     I want to increase my DBA and postgres skills prior to the upgrade, and
>     would like some direction from somewhere (book, group) on where to go
>     from here. Our current database is about 50G large and is a fairly
>     straightforward setup. I am the DBA and am also one of the developers,
>     and my practical DBA knowledge comes from setting up our database and
>     administering it. I make use of views and plpgsql, but from following
>     the lists realize that there are many more tools available in postgres
>     that could be used.
>
>     Two possible references I found are:
>     - "Physical Database Design: the database professional's guide to
>     exploiting indexes, views, storage, and more" by S. Lightstone, T.
>     Teorey, T. Nadeau
>     http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Database-Design-professionals-exploiting/dp/0123693896
>     - "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to Practices and
>     Procedures" by Craig S. Mullins
>
http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202257162&sr=8-1
>
<http://www.amazon.com/Database-Administration-Complete-Practices-Procedures/dp/0201741296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202257162&sr=8-1>
>     Can anyone recommend these, or others?
>
>
>     Any and all suggestions welcome.
>
>     Thanks
>
>     Ron
>
>     ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
>     TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sincerely yours,
> Olexandr Melnyk <><
> http://omelnyk.net/

On Feb 6, 2008, at 11:54 AM, Ron St-Pierre wrote:

> Unfortunately there isn't a current version of Joshua Drake's book
> out there (which I do own along with PostgreSQL Essential Reference
> by Stinson), so alternatively, can anyone recommend a good DBA book
> outlining best practices, physical design, etc? I would like
> something that is relevant to PostgreSQL even though it won't
> likely be PostgreSQL specific. Based on current best practices I
> could then investigate which tools postgres has available to
> implement them.
>
> Currently our small company has a single redhat server for the
> database and web server, backups obviously are on a separate box.
> We want to add hardware over the next few months and would like to/
> need to separate functions and take advantage of things like:
> replication, PITR, clustering, failover, plgpsql, material view
> perhaps, and likely more which would be useful to speed up and
> protect our data.
>
> I want to increase my DBA and postgres skills prior to the upgrade,
> and would like some direction from somewhere (book, group) on where
> to go from here. Our current database is about 50G large and is a
> fairly straightforward setup. I am the DBA and am also one of the
> developers, and my practical DBA knowledge comes from setting up
> our database and administering it. I make use of views and plpgsql,
> but from following the lists realize that there are many more tools
> available in postgres that could be used.

I like The Art of SQL by Stephane Faroult (http://www.amazon.com/Art-
SQL-eacute-phane-Faroult/dp/0596008945/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?
ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202330868&sr=1-1).  It's a fairly in depth book
that covers many different advanced design topics and trade-offs.

Erik Jones

DBA | Emma®
erik@myemma.com
800.595.4401 or 615.292.5888
615.292.0777 (fax)

Emma helps organizations everywhere communicate & market in style.
Visit us online at http://www.myemma.com

On Feb 6, 2008 2:48 PM, Erik Jones <erik@myemma.com> wrote:
> I like The Art of SQL by Stephane Faroult (http://www.amazon.com/Art-
> SQL-eacute-phane-Faroult/dp/0596008945/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?
> ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202330868&sr=1-1).  It's a fairly in depth book
> that covers many different advanced design topics and trade-offs.

I agree, it's a great book.  I also recommend the two previously
mentioned Celko books.