The startup's Postgres survival guide (hatchet.run)

Article summary

The article provides a guide for startups on how to prevent Postgres from experiencing performance issues, covering topics such as schema design, query optimization, and connection management. It also discusses more advanced topics like the query planner, bulk updates, and autovacuum. The guide is based on the author's experience with Postgres at their startup, Hatchet. The article aims to provide a comprehensive resource for startups to improve their Postgres setup and avoid common pitfalls.

Main themes

• Postgres optimization
• Database schema design
• Query performance
• Connection management
• Autovacuum and maintenance
• Backup and recovery strategies

What commenters say

• Monitoring and alerting are crucial for preventing Postgres failure modes and should be prioritized.
• A backup strategy is essential for any production database and should be implemented from the start.
• Using a tool like pgbackrest for backups is recommended due to its ease of setup and point-in-time recovery capabilities.
• Some argue that using a managed database service like RDS can be more cost-effective and convenient, while others prefer to manage their own databases for more flexibility and control.
• Proper database design and normalization are critical for performance and scalability, and should not be overlooked in favor of relying on an ORM.
• Using object storage like S3 for large files is a good practice, while smaller files can be stored in the database.
• Some developers prefer to use a single idempotent schema file for migrations, while others advocate for using migration tools like Grate for more reliability and flexibility.