[DOCS] 8.1.5 Release Notes

2006-10-23 Thread David Blewett
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Hi All:
Just noticed that the release notes section for 8.1.5 has this heading
in it: "E.1.1. Migration to version 8.1.4".

David
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Re: [DOCS] 8.1.5 Release Notes

2006-10-23 Thread Bruce Momjian
David Blewett wrote:
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Hi All:
>   Just noticed that the release notes section for 8.1.5 has this heading
> in it: "E.1.1. Migration to version 8.1.4".

Yea, we have fixed it.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  EnterpriseDBhttp://www.enterprisedb.com

  + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

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[DOCS] bytea vs standard_conforming_strings

2006-10-23 Thread Tom Lane
The discussion of bytea in section 8.4,
http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/datatype-binary.html
is obsolete because it assumes that standard_conforming_strings is
always OFF.  It could be very much simpler and shorter if
standard_conforming_strings were always ON, but that's not reality
either.  Anyone have an idea on how to rewrite it in a way that
isn't awkward, incomprehensible, or both?

regards, tom lane

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[DOCS] Replication documentation addition

2006-10-23 Thread Bruce Momjian

Here is my first draft of a new replication section for our
documentation.  I am looking for any comments.

---

Replication
===

Database replication allows multiple computers to work together, making
them appear as a single computer to user applications.  This might
involve allowing a backup server to take over if the primary server
fails, or it might involve allowing several computers to work together
at the same time.

It would be ideal if database servers could be combined seamlessly.  Web
servers serving static web pages can be combined quite easily by merely
load-balancing web requests to multiple machines.  In fact, most
read-only servers can be combined relatively easily.

Unfortunately, most database servers have a read/write mix of requests,
and read/write servers are much harder to combine.  This is because
though read-only data has to be placed on each each server only once, a
write to any server has to be seen by all other servers so that future
read requests to those servers return consistent results.  

This "sync problem" is the fundamental difficulty of doing database
replication.  Because there is no single solution that limits the impact
of the sync problem for all workloads, there are multiple replication
solutions.  Each solution addresses the sync problem in a different way,
and minimizes its impact for a specific workload.  

This section first outlines two important replication capabilities, and
then outlines various replication solutions.

Sychronous vs. Asynchronous Replication
---

The term sychronous replication means that a query is not considered
committed unless all servers have access to the committed records.  In
that case, a failover to a backup server will lose no data records. 
Asynchronous replication has a small delay between the time of commit
and its propogation to backup servers, opening the possibility that some
transactions might be lost in a switch to a backup server.  Asynchronous
is used when sychronous replication would be too slow.

Full vs. Partial Replication


The term full replication means only a full database cluster can be
replicated, while partial replication means more fine-grained control
over replicated objects is possible.

Shared Disk Failover
 

This replication solution avoids the sync problem by having only one
copy of the database.  This is possible because a single disk array is
shared by multiple servers.  If the main database server fails, the
backup server is able to mount and start the database as though it was
restarting after a database crash.  This shared hardware functionality
is common in network storage devices.  This allows sychronous, full
replication.

Warm Standby Using Point-In-Time Recovery
-

A warm standby server (add doc xref) can be kept current by reading a
stream of WAL records.  If the main server fails, the warm standby
contains almost all of the data as the main server, and can be used as
the new database server.  This allows asychronous, full replication.

Point-In-Time Recovery  [Asychronous, Full]
--

A Point-In-Time Recovery is the same as a Warm Standby server except
that the standby server must go though a full restore and archive
recovery operation, delaying how quickly it can be used as the main
database server.  This allows asychronous, full replication.

Continuously Running Failover Server


A continuously running failover server allows the backup server to
answer read-only queries while the master server is running.  It
receives a continuous stream of write activity from the master server. 
Because the failover server can be used for read-only database requests,
it is ideal for data warehouse queries. Slony offers this as
asychronous, partial replication.

Data Partitioning
-

Data partitioning partitions the database into data sets.  To achieve
replication, each data set can only be modified by one server.  For
example, data can be partitioned by main office, e.g. London and Paris. 
While London and Paris servers have all data records, only London can
modify London records, and Paris can only modify Paris records.  Such
partitioning is usually accomplished in application code, though rules
and triggers can help enforce such partitioning and keep the read-only
data sets current.  Slony can also be used in such a setup.  While Slony
replicates only entire tables, London and Paris can be placed in
separate tables, and inheritance can be used to pull from both tables at
the same time.

Query Broadcast Replication
---

This involves sending write queries to multiple servers.  Read-only
queries can be sent to a single server because there is no need for all
servers to process it.   This can be complex to setup bec

Re: [DOCS] Replication documentation addition

2006-10-23 Thread Bruce Momjian

Please disregard.  I am redoing it and will post a URL with the most
recent version.

---

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> 
> Here is my first draft of a new replication section for our
> documentation.  I am looking for any comments.
> 
> ---
> 
> Replication
> ===
> 
> Database replication allows multiple computers to work together, making
> them appear as a single computer to user applications.  This might
> involve allowing a backup server to take over if the primary server
> fails, or it might involve allowing several computers to work together
> at the same time.
> 
> It would be ideal if database servers could be combined seamlessly.  Web
> servers serving static web pages can be combined quite easily by merely
> load-balancing web requests to multiple machines.  In fact, most
> read-only servers can be combined relatively easily.
> 
> Unfortunately, most database servers have a read/write mix of requests,
> and read/write servers are much harder to combine.  This is because
> though read-only data has to be placed on each each server only once, a
> write to any server has to be seen by all other servers so that future
> read requests to those servers return consistent results.  
> 
> This "sync problem" is the fundamental difficulty of doing database
> replication.  Because there is no single solution that limits the impact
> of the sync problem for all workloads, there are multiple replication
> solutions.  Each solution addresses the sync problem in a different way,
> and minimizes its impact for a specific workload.  
> 
> This section first outlines two important replication capabilities, and
> then outlines various replication solutions.
> 
> Sychronous vs. Asynchronous Replication
> ---
> 
> The term sychronous replication means that a query is not considered
> committed unless all servers have access to the committed records.  In
> that case, a failover to a backup server will lose no data records. 
> Asynchronous replication has a small delay between the time of commit
> and its propogation to backup servers, opening the possibility that some
> transactions might be lost in a switch to a backup server.  Asynchronous
> is used when sychronous replication would be too slow.
> 
> Full vs. Partial Replication
> 
> 
> The term full replication means only a full database cluster can be
> replicated, while partial replication means more fine-grained control
> over replicated objects is possible.
> 
> Shared Disk Failover
>  
> 
> This replication solution avoids the sync problem by having only one
> copy of the database.  This is possible because a single disk array is
> shared by multiple servers.  If the main database server fails, the
> backup server is able to mount and start the database as though it was
> restarting after a database crash.  This shared hardware functionality
> is common in network storage devices.  This allows sychronous, full
> replication.
> 
> Warm Standby Using Point-In-Time Recovery
> -
> 
> A warm standby server (add doc xref) can be kept current by reading a
> stream of WAL records.  If the main server fails, the warm standby
> contains almost all of the data as the main server, and can be used as
> the new database server.  This allows asychronous, full replication.
> 
> Point-In-Time Recovery  [Asychronous, Full]
> --
> 
> A Point-In-Time Recovery is the same as a Warm Standby server except
> that the standby server must go though a full restore and archive
> recovery operation, delaying how quickly it can be used as the main
> database server.  This allows asychronous, full replication.
> 
> Continuously Running Failover Server
> 
> 
> A continuously running failover server allows the backup server to
> answer read-only queries while the master server is running.  It
> receives a continuous stream of write activity from the master server. 
> Because the failover server can be used for read-only database requests,
> it is ideal for data warehouse queries. Slony offers this as
> asychronous, partial replication.
> 
> Data Partitioning
> -
> 
> Data partitioning partitions the database into data sets.  To achieve
> replication, each data set can only be modified by one server.  For
> example, data can be partitioned by main office, e.g. London and Paris. 
> While London and Paris servers have all data records, only London can
> modify London records, and Paris can only modify Paris records.  Such
> partitioning is usually accomplished in application code, though rules
> and triggers can help enforce such partitioning and keep the read-only
> data sets current.  Slony can also be used in such a setup.  While Slony
> replicates only ent

[DOCS] Replication documentation addition

2006-10-23 Thread Bruce Momjian
Here is a new replication documentation section I want to add for 8.2:

ftp://momjian.us/pub/postgresql/mypatches/replication

Comments welcomed.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  EnterpriseDBhttp://www.enterprisedb.com

  + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

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