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Slides from my talk "Tour de Data Types: VARCHAR2 or CHAR(255)?" at FOSDEM 2017

I had the opportunity to talk about the many datatypes in PostgreSQL, in the PostgreSQL Devroom at FOSDEM 2017. It's quite interesting how many people only use the basic data types and don't know the broad range of types which PostgreSQL is offering.

My slides are available here: *click*

Chemnitz Linux Days 2013

"Chemnitz Linux Days" is one of the main Open Source and Linux conferences in Germany, for the 15th consecutive year now. And personally it's one of my favourite conferences.

Based on experience from the past two years I decided not to have a booth, but nevertheless submitted two talks. One was accepted: "Replication with PostgreSQL" (slides and script here). On the laptop keyboard&mouse: Andreas Kretschmer. On the microphone: me. It was the first talk in the morning, but the room was full with visitors. We got nice feedback about the talk as well and had to continue discussions outside of the room, when the next talk started.

Continue reading "Chemnitz Linux Days 2013"

Replikation mit PostgreSQL - Vortrag auf den Chemnitzer Linuxtagen 2013

Die Folien für den Vortrag "Replikation mit PostgreSQL", den Andreas Kretschmer und ich auf den Chemnitzer Linuxtagen 2013 gehalten haben, sind jetzt online:

Replikation mit PostgreSQL

Ein Link auf das Build Skript zum Nachvollziehen der Demo ist hier:

Demo Skript

Viel Spaß damit.

Call for Papers: Workshop Days in Rapperswil

The Call for Papers for the Workshop Days /ch/open at the HSR (Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Switzerland) is open. Among other talks, the team is especially looking for a PostgreSQL workshop.

If you would like to submit a workshop, please go to the website and use the submit form.

The CfP ends June 8th, hurry up ;-)

FOSDEM 2012 - PostgreSQL Devroom: Call for Speakers

The PostgreSQL project will have a Devroom at FOSDEM 2012, which takes place on February 4-5 in Brussels, Belgium. The Devroom will mainly cover topics for PostgreSQL users, developers and contributors. For more information about the event itself, please see the website at http://www.fosdem.org/2012/.


We are now accepting proposals for talks. Please note that we only accept talks in English.

Each session will last 45 minutes (including discussion), and may be on any topic related to PostgreSQL. Suggested topic areas include:

  • Developing applications for PostgreSQL
  • Administering large scale PostgreSQL installations
  • Case studies and/or success stories of PostgreSQL deployments
  • PostgreSQL tools and utilities
  • PostgreSQL hacking
  • Community & user groups
  • Tuning the server
  • Migrating from other systems
  • Scaling/replication
  • Benchmarking & hardware
  • PostgreSQL related products


Of course, we're happy to receive proposals for talks on other PostgreSQL related topics as well.


Please use our conference website to submit your proposal:

https://www.postgresql.eu/events/callforpapers/fosdem2012/


The deadline for submissions is December 20th, 2011. The schedule will be published and speakers will be informed by the end of the year.


Please also note my email about hotel reservation:

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgeu-general/2011-11/msg00000.php


Fazit: PostgreSQL auf der FrOSCon 2011

Wie in den letzten Jahren auch hat PostgreSQL wieder einen sehr angenehmen Auftritt auf der FrOSCon 2011 gehabt.

Am Samstag hatten wir einen Devroom, der voll mit guten Vorträgen war. Das Feedback für den Devroom ist - soweit man das zu diesem frühen Zeitpunkt schon abschätzen kann - sehr gut.

Etwas Kritik gibt es an der Orga für die Organisation der Projekte. Wie auch im letzten Jahr wurden alle Projekte in die eine Hälfte des einen großen Saals gepackt. Auf der anderen Seite waren dann Tische und dort wurde warmes Essen verkauft. Dieses Gedränge und das gute Wetter haben dafür gesorgt, das die Temperaturen an den Ständen nicht erträglich waren - entsprechend war am Sonntag dort recht wenig los und die Besucher haben sich eher draußen aufgehalten.

Für nächstes Jahr wünsche ich mir hier ein komplett neues Konzept vom Veranstalter, andernfalls macht es keinen Sinn, unnötig personelle und materielle Ressourcen für einen nicht besuchten Stand aufzuwenden. Mit kleineren Korrekturen ist es hier nicht mehr getan, dafür ist die FrOSCon mittlerweile zu groß geworden und die Anzahl der Projekte wächst ständig an.

Dafür war das Social Event am Abend wieder sehr gut organisiert und besucht. Positiv zu erwähnen ist außerdem, das man schneller seine Getränke bekam.

Dann mal schauen, was die Orga da nächstes Jahr geplant hat.

PostgreSQL@FrOSCon 2011

FrOSCon is the annual Free and Open Source Conference, which takes place at the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in St. Augustin, Germany.

As usual, PostgreSQL has a devroom and we will host a number of talks, most of them in German, but also one in English.

The list of talks is available at the FrOSCon website: http://programm.froscon.org/2011/schedule/2011-08-20.html You have to scroll right to the second page.

Honestly: I don't know, why the FrOSCon folks chooses pink for our devroom in the schedule. I mean, hey, pink. Not blue, not black, PINK! Ridiculous!

Anyway, looking forward to meet you in St. Augustin in a not so far future.

CHAR(11)

Was the first time that I actually had the chance to attend CHAR(11). For various reasons (speak: my wife had tickets for a musical) I could not attend last year.

After arriving in Cambridge and a decent dinner on Sunday, I went early to the venue on Monday (*wow*). Registration: check, breakfast: check, EMC booth: check, tea: check - maybe not in this particular order. Let's start the day.

Most of the talks were very interesting and it's good to see, how others attempt to solve the same problems we have in Greenplum. Because of many questions, Simon organized a podium discussion with Yeb Havinga, Willem Dijkstra (both MGRID), Koichi Suzuki (Postgres-XC) and Rob Klopp (Greenplum) just before lunch. It's also interesting that people would like to see some of the technology in PostgreSQL - we have to talk with our product management, if we can make this happen.

Monday ended in a very good dinner in a near college, it looked a bit like the big hall in Harry Potter - just the candles were missing ;-) Tuesday ended in a barbeque outside the venue. Both gave the chance for the usual conversations which I enjoyed a lot.

Hopefully I can attend again next year.


PostgreSQL@FrOSCon 2011 - Call for Papers

Like in the last years, the German-Speaking PostgreSQL User Group again has a Devroom at the FrOSCon 2011, taking place on August 20/21in St. Augustin, Germany.

Now we are looking for all kind of PostgreSQL related talks. All slots are 45 minutes.

Please submit your talk to froscon@pgug.de. Deadline is Juli 20th.

We also have a booth. If you visit FrOSCon, please step by and have a chat with us.

PostgreSQL@FrOSCon 2011 - Call for Papers

Die Deutschsprachige PostgreSQL Anwendergruppe hat auf der 6. FrOSCon in St. Augustin am 20./21. August einen Devroom.

Dort werden wir wie auch in den letzten Jahren eine Reihe Vorträge zum Thema PostgreSQL organisieren. Dafür suchen wir nun Beiträge.

Jeder Vortrag wird 45 Minuten dauern und kann jedes beliebige für PostgreSQL relevante Thema beinhalten. Einige Vorschläge für Themenbereiche:

  • Entwickeln von Anwendungen für PostgreSQL
  • Administration von großen und skalierenden PostgreSQL Installationen
  • Fallstudien von PostgreSQL Installationen
  • PostgreSQL Werkzeuge und Hilfsprogramme
  • PostgreSQL Hacking
  • Community & Benutzergruppen
  • Tunen der Datenbank oder des Servers
  • Migrieren von anderen Systemen
  • Skalieren/Replikation
  • Benchmarking & Hardware
  • Produkte die PostgreSQL verwenden

Natürlich werden Einreichungen aus anderen, PostgreSQL relevanten Bereichen ebenfalls akzeptiert.

Alle Vorträge müssen bis zum 22. Juli 2011 an froscon@pgug.de eingereicht sein.

Wir werden ebenfalls einen PostgreSQL Stand auf der FrOSCon haben, dafür suchen wir noch fleißige Helfer.

Deutschsprachige PostgreSQL Konferenz 2011 - Call for Papers

Am 11. November findet im Rheinischen Industriemuseum die Deutschsprachige PostgreSQL Konferenz 2011 statt. Dazu wurde jetzt der Call for Papers gestartet, Vorträge können zu allen PostgreSQL-relevanten Themen bis zum 15. September 2011 eingereicht werden.

Weitere Informationen gibt es auf der Webseite zur Konferenz: http://2011.pgconf.de/

Im Anschluß an die Konferenz findet über das Wochenende die OpenRheinRuhr statt. Die Eintrittskarten für die Konferenz sind ebenfalls für diese Veranstaltung gültig.

PGCon 2011 - Second day

Second - and last day - of PGCon 2011 is over. It was a very good conference, I got new ideas and learned a lot.

My conference day started with Jeff Davis' talk about "Range Types". This is imho a very useful new feature.

Had to skip the second slot because of some work and several phone conferences.

Afternoon started with Tom Lane's "Hacking the Query Planner - Part II". This was the continuation of yesterday's talk.

Greg Smith presented some insights of performance tuning under heavy load in his "The Write Stuff" talk. Very interesting. I finally have to buy his book.

The last was given by Dan Ports and Kevin Grittner about the new "Serializable Snapshot Isolation in Postgres". At first sight it sounds strange, but after a second thought it makes sense. It also includes some very advanced research stuff ;-)

PGCon ended with the "Closing sessions". Dan auctioned off some cool items, like several books, shirts, one of our plush elephants and posters. This collected 1705 Canadian Dollar and will be spent to a charity organization. Congratulations!

In the evening we went for a little party, sponsored by PGExperts. I also brought myself a cup of ice cream. This is a good day ;-)

PGCon 2011 - First day

PGCon started today with a bunch of interesting talks. The weather in the morning was unsurprisingly bad, it was heavily raining. Also there was an announcement about a new PostgreSQL Conference (Postgres Open Conference), taking place in September in Chicago.

Paul Ramsey gave the keynote and talked about PostGIS. It's quite clear, why PostGIS is one of the "most pushing" extensions, in terms of new features in PostgreSQL.

The next talk on my list was Robert Treat, talking about "Database Scalability Patterns: Sharding for Unlimited Growth". Honestly, I found this talk not very interesting, because Robert was just talking about his view and his implementation of sharding, whereas the talk description spoke about a more general overview.

After that I moved to Gurjeet Singt and his talk about "Best practices with Ora2Pg". This talk was quite interesting and gave a broad overview about the existing problems and how Ora2PG is (trying to) solve them.

Selena Marie spoke next about "Maintaining Terabytes" and earned 8 beer later the day for the big number of tables in here database ;-)

I skipped the next talk and went to a nearby copy shop and printed a bunch of PGConf.EU flyers. We spread them all over the place and hopefully now everyone knows about our major conference in Amsterdam later this year.

Tom Lane is desperately looking for new query planner hackers and explained the different planner steps in detail. Looks like he has to continue his talk tomorrow, because there are too many details involved ;-)

Last talk(s) for today where the Lightning Talks. Jan Wieck and myself submitted a talk about our two IRC bots and explained shortly the upcoming new versions and included features. There were some more Lightning Talks, some very serious, and some very funny. Bruce earned 9 beers for making people using pg_upgrade ;-)

After the official part, it was time for the social event. Sponsored by EnterpriseDB, we met in a restaurant about 10 minutes away from the venue. Because of the warm dinner food it was quite hot in the room, but luckily there were free drinks for everyone. I also went to the nearby ice cream shop to make this a perfect day. During the evening I had the chance to talk with many people and had a fair amount of interesting discussions.

Waiting for the second day of the conference.

PostgreSQL@FOSDEM 2011

Yeah, FOSDEM is already a week ago, but I found no time to blog about the event. Anyway, here I go:

This years edition of FOSDEM was very successfull, especially for the PostgreSQL project. We got two tables in the main building, which gave us plenty of space to present the project and talk with visitors. In addition, we had our devroom in the main building too. So, thank you to the FOSDEM team for this smart move.

The devroom had many visitors for all talks. We managed to have 6 talks, three very technical and three more user orientated.

I came with a car full of stuff to Brussels, and leaved on Sunday with just two boxes. We gave away all stressballs and all pens, and sold all elephants (again) and mugs. Only one or two bags from PGDay.EU 2010 are left and several shirts. Time to order new merchandising stuff ;-) The Perl table next to us brought a very large camel, obviously an eye-catcher.

This year I also found time to visit other interesting talks, and managed to meet good friends again. As every year, it was a very good event, just a bit cold outside ;-)