PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system. The current project has been operating since 1996 with the first release in 1997. The software can trace its heritage all the way back to University of California, Ingres. The lineage has the following software tree:

Ingres->Postgres->Postgres95->PostgreSQL

With each being an individual project with different contributors and maintainers. PostgreSQL (also known as modernly as Postgres) is scalable, enterprise grade and extensible. It maintains proper ACID compliance and has a long history for providing enterprise class services to companies.

Command Prompt heritage

Command Prompt has been a long time contributor to PostgreSQL, and since 1997 one the most vocal advocates of PostgreSQL in the enterprise production space. We wrote the first production class replication capabilities for PostgreSQL in the form of a former PostgreSQL distribution called Mammoth. As PostgreSQL matured into a truly Enterprise Grade Open Source database, Command Prompt switched its priorities to ensuring success with PostgreSQL deployments through support contracts, professional services and as a long term organizer of Postgres Conference. We also contribute to Psycopg3 (the Python Driver for PostgreSQL) and PgManage (a GUI for managing PostgreSQL).

As the oldest of of the PostgreSQL companies it is uniquely positioned through extensive and comprehensive experience to provide support to any company wishing to have the greatest success with their PostgreSQL deployments. In North America there is no other company that extends the life of PostgreSQL and related technologies (such as managed and cloud) to 8 years.

The Amazon Incident

Although popular, PostgreSQL achieved a great boost in users when Amazon turned off its last Oracle (a legacy competitor to PostgreSQL) installation in favor of a PostgreSQL installation. A video of this momentous event can be found here. Amazon has been a fantastic advocate of PostgreSQL and is in the top 4 of contributors to the project. In terms of cloud deployments, Amazon has the largest installations between its PostgreSQL forks including RDS for PostgreSQL, Aurora for PostgreSQL, DocumentDB, Redshift and of course, users operating in an EC2+PostgreSQL environment.

PostgreSQL continues

PostgreSQL is the only Open Source database in the world that focuses on correctness first and extends that correctness to features such as NoSQL (JSON), ASYNC/SYNC Binary and Logical Replication. PostgreSQL also has features such as Horizontal partitioning, Stored Procedures and abilities to use replication to other legacy database systems such as MSSQL and Oracle.

PostgreSQL is available for free under the PostgreSQL License, which allows anyone to use, modify, and distribute the software without restriction. There are also many third-party tools and libraries available that extend the functionality of PostgreSQL and make it easier to work with.

PostgreSQL Features

PostgreSQL is a truly Open Source Enterprise database. You can view the PostgreSQL feature matrix here and this is a brief list of the core features it supports:

• ACID Compliance
• Binary and Logical Replication (Async/Sync)
• Legacy Database (Oracle, MSSQL, MySQL etc...) replication
• Proper Typing
• Extensive Date / Time support and related analysis and modification functions
• GIS Support
• Time Series Support
• Horizontal Partitioning
• UDFs and Procedures
• Data Partitioning
• Materialized Views
• Multiple Index Concepts (Btree, Hash, GiST, GIN) and extensible Indexes
• Multi Language Support (C, Python, Java, .Net, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby etc...)
• C, ODBC, .NET and JDBC connectivity
• Custom Data Types
  • and on and on

Resources:

• Help with PostgreSQL
• Download PostgreSQL
  • If you are running Linux, use your standard package manager (apt/yum/dnf) etc…
  • If you do not have access to Linux use the packages on PostgreSQL.org.
• PostgreSQL Education
  • Command Prompt Education Portal
  • PostgreSQL.org Docs
  • Postgres Conference Youtube channel
  • PostgreSQL Training
• Contact Command Prompt today

PSA

To receive the most out of PostgreSQL it is advised that you deploy with Open Source PostgreSQL versions that do not force upgrades and break compatibility through removing extensibility.