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Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

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Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#161

Post by cmelbye »

NatW wrote: post #39
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #24

How does this compare to Heroku's PG offering?

Good question. Heroku offers an RDS plugin now only for mysql: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/amazon_rds If/when a Heroku RDS plugin for Postgresql arrives, competing benchmarks, a cost calculator, pros and cons would be very interesting, indeed. Heroku pricing: https://addons.heroku.com/heroku-postgresql Amazon pricing: http://aws.amazon.com/rds/postgresql/

Doesn't their RDS add-on merely set DATABASE_URL to the URL that you provide when adding it? Are you sure it doesn't work with MySQL? There's no reason you'd need to wait for Heroku to add support for this, just spin up an RDS instance in us-east-1 and start using the URL Amazon gives you as your database URL.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#163

Post by pnathan »

jclem wrote: post #78
natural219 wrote: post #41

I hate PostgreSQL. Yes, I am a dummy application developer who doesn't understand database software. Every time I try to install PostgreSQL it fails. Every time I install MySQL it installs successfully with no problems. Actually, that's the extent of my experience with it, and I guess I'm fine dealing with a database that doesn't validate date formats strictly if I can use the damn database without hassle . I am tota…

+1 using Postgres.app (for Mac): http://postgresapp.com/ If you're on a Mac and don't want a menubar icon (I decided this recently), `brew install postgres`, and then write yourself some functions to make starting and stopping easier: https://github.com/jclem/dotfiles/blob/master/zsh/functions/... https://github.com/jclem/dotfiles/blob/master/zsh/functions/...

So postgresapp.com's installer is great, but due to some xyz thingie, it limits at 27 or so connections for 9.2 (maybe still in 9.3? - haven't followed the GH issue). Startled me when I ran into that and motivated me to move to a regular install.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#164

Post by ptrf »

falcolas wrote: post #89
bsaul wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any link to a page providing more info on those quircks ? I'm deciding between a traditionnal ec2 instance running postgres or rds at the very precise moment !

The long and short of it is that you do not have an account with super access (you can't perform normal actions like killing threads, viewing processlists, change variables, etc). You instead have to use special stored procedures to perform basic administrative functions. Also, you can't take advantage of replication (aside from their own read replicas within other RDS instances) or binary backups. Anything that requ…

For MySQL RDS instances, it's most certainly possible to do offsite asynchronous replication without the use of read replicas, as described in their documentation here: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/MySQL....

The guide does mention using a read replica to replicate from, an intermediate RDS instance between your offsite, but I've had no trouble replicating directly from the master instance.

One thing they don't cover is replication over SSL. AWS has failed to mention this shortcoming in the docs last time I checked. To have MySQL replicate over SSL, the master and slave both need an SSL certificate signed by the same CA, which would require you to obtain a cert+key signed by the AWS RDS CA.

Of course you have the option of tunneling the replication connection into a haproxy or stunnel running on an ec2 instance, but that has it's other shortcomings. You can't use the ELBs, since you can't register the RDS instance with an ELB.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#165

Post by natural219 »

McGlockenshire wrote: post #153
natural219 wrote: post #41

I hate PostgreSQL. Yes, I am a dummy application developer who doesn't understand database software. Every time I try to install PostgreSQL it fails. Every time I install MySQL it installs successfully with no problems. Actually, that's the extent of my experience with it, and I guess I'm fine dealing with a database that doesn't validate date formats strictly if I can use the damn database without hassle . I am tota…

Are you sure that you aren't confusing installation with initial configuration? The most utterly infuriating part of a new Postgres install is getting authentication set up. I shouldn't have to expressly edit a freaking INI file for basic user access, damnit! With the tentative upsert changes made in 9.4's commitfest, the initial user config problems are my last major problem with Postgres...

This is what I mean, yes.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#167

Post by eonil »

natural219 wrote: post #41

I hate PostgreSQL. Yes, I am a dummy application developer who doesn't understand database software. Every time I try to install PostgreSQL it fails. Every time I install MySQL it installs successfully with no problems. Actually, that's the extent of my experience with it, and I guess I'm fine dealing with a database that doesn't validate date formats strictly if I can use the damn database without hassle . I am tota…

No kidding. If you really can avoid all the caveats on MySQL, installing of PostgreSQL is nothing hard. It's just your belief that you can avoid all that caveats.

Also, why don't you use Heroku PostgreSQL app which is just one-click starting self-contained app?

If you're on FreeBSD/Linux desktop, how can you fail to install? Of course it doesn't work just right after install, and it needs manual initial configuration for security. But that shouldn't be hard to any Unix family server developer.

If you're on Windows desktop, why don't you run your own FreeBSD/Linux server VM instance for your own development?

If you're using Windows server… with MySQL… Hmm then I am sorry. I have no more idea.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#169

Post by rpedela »

fat0wl wrote: post #142
avenger123 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one's watching. Your initial comment just really didn't add any value. Calling Heroku monolith compared to Amazon is an understatement and I don't see Heroku being "wiped off the map" from this.

I wasn't calling Heroku a monolith because they're a huge company -- it's because they suck you in & then youre forever stuck in their web of services. I bet they start bleeding a lot of money now that there is an easy-to-use alternative for Postgres hosting on a well-known platform. Heroku epitomizes the idea of overcharge + vendor lock-in & people only put up with their high prices because they don't have the time…

Just like AWS, you pay Heroku to simplify your system administration. You don't have to like Heroku's product but there is a place for it. I do not use Heroku but it makes total sense if you have an app you need to deploy and you don't know system admin, don't want to do system admin yourself, or can't afford a system admin.

GitHub just "wraps up" git and charges for it and I am happy to pay them. Setting up a git server is a royal pain in the ass. Setting up a wiki, issue tracker, etc to go along with a git server is even more of a pain in the ass.

Well done cloud services make life simpler, and many people will pay for that simplicity regardless of how the internals are built.

Re: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

#170

Post by kennystone »

fat0wl wrote: post #142
avenger123 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one's watching. Your initial comment just really didn't add any value. Calling Heroku monolith compared to Amazon is an understatement and I don't see Heroku being "wiped off the map" from this.

I wasn't calling Heroku a monolith because they're a huge company -- it's because they suck you in & then youre forever stuck in their web of services. I bet they start bleeding a lot of money now that there is an easy-to-use alternative for Postgres hosting on a well-known platform. Heroku epitomizes the idea of overcharge + vendor lock-in & people only put up with their high prices because they don't have the time…

This is not true at all. Apps on Heroku are built on open source software (Rails, Postgres, etc). You can always decide to host it all yourself without too many issues.
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