Part 4 of our PostgreSQL Autovacuum Failure Series explores how session-level temp tables in RDS can silently stall autovacuum—and how we resolved it. Learn why monitoring and visibility are critical in managed cloud environments.
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PgManage 1.3 Release: Powerful New Features and Enhanced Usability
PgManage 1.3 is here with major updates including a redesigned dashboard UI, JSON export, code folding, PostgreSQL 17 support, and more. This release focuses on usability, performance, and cross-database compatibility, enhancing your workflow whether you're using PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL, or others.
Part 3: Why Autovacuum Stops — PostgreSQL Internal Mechanics Explained
Series Summary: This is Part 3 of a multi-part series on PostgreSQL autovacuum failures.
In Part 2, we reproduced the autovacuum failure issue — now let’s understand why it happens. This post dives into PostgreSQL internals, explaining how autovacuum allocates its resources and why certain databases get “stuck” in maintenance limbo.
Why Does This Occur?
This behavior stems from how the autovacuum daemon allocates its resources. Autovacuum identifies …
Lessons from the Road: The weight of consumerism
How many things do you own? How many things are you responsible for?
Every thing we have comes with a cost beyond the purchase price. From maintenance to cleaning to relocating to using: we are required to do much more with our things than we usually think about. Let’s consider a lawn mower: it has the original purchase price, the sales tax if applicable, the time to transport, the space …
Part 2: Reproducing and Diagnosing Autovacuum Failures
Series Summary: This is Part 2 of a multi-part series on PostgreSQL autovacuum failures.
In Part 1, we introduced the scenario where autovacuum mysteriously halts in a multi-database PostgreSQL cluster. Now, we’ll reproduce the issue using a lightweight test setup. This walkthrough will help you see the failure in action and understand how quickly your system can degrade.
How to Reproduce the Problem (and Watch PostgreSQL Go Sideways)
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Lessons from the Road: Know your values
Ever wonder why we so often don’t follow through on the goals we set for ourselves? Or why it is so easy to slide back into our old habits?
One part is neurological: our brain is full of established neural pathways that get larger the longer we reinforce the same behavior.
The other part is not having clarity on our values.
We can have all of the “right” motivation, including …
Part 1: When Autovacuum Silently Fails Across Databases
This blog series examines PostgreSQL autovacuum failures, focusing on temp tables and multi-database edge cases that cause bloat, slowdowns, or XID wraparound risks in complex environments.
Lessons from the Road: What is Essential
How often do you take a moment to ask yourself: what is essential in my life? Today? Now? What do I need?
Knowing what is essential enables us to accurately prioritize. Whether from Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, or any part of the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown, knowing how to prioritize is critical. When we do, we avoid burnout, unhealthy …
Alternative Work Style: Lessons From the Road
For the last four months I have been working in the ‘cozy’ space of a 23’ school bus. Managing a business under the best of circumstances is stressful. Doing it on the road feels near impossible some days. The relocating, the dance of not being in the other’s way, and taking meetings without a proper setup can be frustrating. Not to mention the weather, which over the last four months …
Of Unicorns and Donkeys
Classic and untrue. It isn’t the DBAs that are the issue. It is the developers and their ego which is driven by the unrealistic expectations of the C-suite that is driven by the ridiculous assertions of the investors that drives this problem. DBAs may be an acquired taste but we are the ones that are constantly cleaning up after the developers who could never learn more than the ORM and …