Re: DBA Book - Not "postgresql book - practical or something newer?"

On Feb 6, 2008, at 11:54 AM, Ron St-Pierre wrote:

> Unfortunately there isn't a current version of Joshua Drake's book
> out there (which I do own along with PostgreSQL Essential Reference
> by Stinson), so alternatively, can anyone recommend a good DBA book
> outlining best practices, physical design, etc? I would like
> something that is relevant to PostgreSQL even though it won't
> likely be PostgreSQL specific. Based on current best practices I
> could then investigate which tools postgres has available to
> implement them.
>
> Currently our small company has a single redhat server for the
> database and web server, backups obviously are on a separate box.
> We want to add hardware over the next few months and would like to/
> need to separate functions and take advantage of things like:
> replication, PITR, clustering, failover, plgpsql, material view
> perhaps, and likely more which would be useful to speed up and
> protect our data.
>
> I want to increase my DBA and postgres skills prior to the upgrade,
> and would like some direction from somewhere (book, group) on where
> to go from here. Our current database is about 50G large and is a
> fairly straightforward setup. I am the DBA and am also one of the
> developers, and my practical DBA knowledge comes from setting up
> our database and administering it. I make use of views and plpgsql,
> but from following the lists realize that there are many more tools
> available in postgres that could be used.

I like The Art of SQL by Stephane Faroult (http://www.amazon.com/Art-
SQL-eacute-phane-Faroult/dp/0596008945/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?
ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202330868&sr=1-1).  It's a fairly in depth book
that covers many different advanced design topics and trade-offs.

Erik Jones

DBA | Emma®
erik@myemma.com
800.595.4401 or 615.292.5888
615.292.0777 (fax)

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