PgConf.Russia 2020

Recently, I was working on a project where graphQL was used for sending requests to its .NET Core backend, but this was not a good idea. The point is, a graphQL query is a hierarchical structure with a dynamic set of fields. It’s difficult to perform such requests via a statically-typed programming language and a relational database as suggested by the tools available. So, I came up with the idea of using the plv8 extension and perform graphQL queries right on the database side. It took me about two hours to develop a working prototype that could perform the same queries as the software under development for more than one month! Then various improvements have been made and I want to introduce them all. If you are thinking of using graphQL instead of REST, my speech could be most useful and could help you to save a lot of time.

A brief story how MySQL → PG migration could increase company efficiency tenfold times:

1. Program code has been reduced 50 times, with optimization of backend team (from 15 to 3 engineers)
2. Software development of new features has become measuring in days, not in months
3. Infrastructure costs per 1M users have been reduced 20 times
4. Database structure and technical documentation were simplified significantly, from 100K high-dependent tables to just 20 simple tables
5. New security level because of total forbidden on external SQL commands to the database
6. Quick analytics aggregation on multiple parameters, without external analytics systems
7. The last, but not the least: the main business was keeping alive during migration

· Enterprise network traits, known problems and workarounds.

· Year-long background of maintaining 24x7 1C + PostgreSQL systems

· Pros and cons in comparison with MS SQL from DBA point

· Stories of 1C systems migration from MS SQL to PostgreSQL

From the very beginning, PostgreSQL in Avito has been solving very important tasks. All the main architecture components are built around DBMS. For over 10 years, the project has been actively evolving, and the infrastructure and architecture have changed a lot.

The talk will start with an overview of how PostgreSQL infrastructure and architecture have advanced in Avito over time and which challenges have been successfully resolved.

Then we'll discuss PostgreSQL usage scenarios in Avito in 2020: microservice architecture, sharding, hosting multiple databases on a single server instance, DBaaS (Database discovery, access control, failover, backup, archive, resource sharing, etc.), integration, and team evolution.
And finally, I'll share our backlog and wishlist.