If you’re thinking about migrating to the PostgreSQL open source database system, this guide provides a concise overview to help you quickly understand and use PostgreSQL’s unique features. Not only will you learn about the enterprise class features in the 9.2 release, you’ll also discover that PostgeSQL is more than just a database system—it’s also an impressive application platform.

With numerous examples throughout this book, you’ll learn how to achieve tasks that are difficult or impossible in other databases. If you’re an existing PostgreSQL user, you’ll pick up gems you may have missed along the way.

• Learn basic administration tasks, such as role management, database creation, backup, and restore
• Apply the psql command-line utility and the pgAdmin graphical administration tool
• Explore PostgreSQL tables, constraints, and indexes
• Learn powerful SQL constructs not generally found in other databases
• Use several different languages to write database functions
• Tune your queries to run as fast as your hardware will allow
• Query external and variegated data sources with Foreign Data Wrappers
• Learn how to replicate data, using built-in replication features