PGConf.Online 2021

Managing PostgreSQL with Ansible

Ansible is an open-source configuration management and deployment tool, which can be used to manage servers and software installations. This talk will briefly cover Ansible itself, and then explain how Ansible is used to install and configure PostgreSQL on a server. Examples will round up the talk.

Multicorn Foreign Data Wrapper vs plpython

Multicorn technology allows you to develop FDWs in Python, which is much easier and faster than creating FDWs in C. However, there is a downside, Multicorn FDWs work well with primitive WHERE conditions, but more complex cases cause difficulties, which I will talk about. Cases will be considered on the example of my Multicorn FDW for getting OpenStreetMap data. I will also show examples of using the same code in Multicorn FDW and plpython functions, including performance comparison. In conclusion, I will share my findings on when it is better to use plpython, and when Multicorn FDW is more preferable.

Managing moving objects data with MobilityDB

MobilityDB is a moving object database extension to PostgreSQL and PostGIS. It has types and functions for storing an querying geospatial trajectories, as first class citizens. The main type is called tgeompoint (temporal geometry point). It represents a complete movement track of a geometry point, such as a car, a bird, or a person. The function speed(tgeompoint) computes the time varying speed of the object, as a tfloat (temporal float). Similar to these examples, MobilityDB has 6 temporal types, and over 300 functions. As such, it is a function-rich platform for Mobility Data Management.

In this tutorial you will:

• learn about moving object databases
• write MobilityDB SQL queries and explore a database of geospatial trajectories
• walk through the different type, indexes, and functions of MobilityDB.

Python for PostgreSQL: how to use it, how to be good at it

Let's see, with practical examples, how to make Python and PostgreSQL talk to each other seamlessly: how to connect to a server, how to exchange data, manage transactions, passing parameters in a safe and expressive way, how to manage notifications.

We will cover psycopg2, the most used PostgreSQL adapter for Python, but also look and the up and coming psycopg3: what will remain the same, what will change, how to better organise a Python program to make the most of PostgreSQL.