MOC: PostgreSQL

This chapter mirrors the SQL Server chapter at the same operational depth, but it is grounded in PostgreSQL’s own execution model: cluster initialization, configuration files, MVCC, WAL, autovacuum, query planning, replication, and pipeline-oriented loading patterns.

The working lab for this chapter is a dedicated Dockerized PostgreSQL 16 instance on localhost:5434 with a migrated stoxx database that preserves the source schema names bronze, silver, gold, dbo, and demo_stc.

Server Operations and Maintenance

domain-postgresql-server-operations

Cluster layout, configuration files, service health, roles and authentication, backup and recovery, WAL behavior, replication, and operational triage.

Database Design, Tables, and Storage

domain-postgresql-database-design-and-storage

Schemas, tables, constraints, identity and sequence behavior, indexes, partitioning, storage internals, TOAST, and maintenance boundaries.

Query Writing and Optimization

domain-postgresql-query-writing-and-optimization

Core PostgreSQL query patterns, planner behavior, EXPLAIN, statistics, locking, MVCC side effects, deadlocks, and query-shape tuning.

Applied PostgreSQL for Data Pipelines

domain-applied-postgresql-pipelines

COPY, staged loads, idempotent publish patterns, incremental transforms, medallion-style modeling, and pipeline anti-patterns in PostgreSQL.

PostgreSQL Cross-References

• moc-sql-server — the parallel SQL Server track for engine-to-engine comparison
• DB Queries — executable SQL notebooks that should eventually gain a PostgreSQL sibling track
• moc-docker — container lifecycle and Compose patterns for the local PostgreSQL lab
• moc-data-architecture — medallion architecture and pipeline-pattern theory that the PostgreSQL pipeline notes will mirror