PostgreSQL Power Workbook

Take your PostgreSQL expertise to the next level with PostgreSQL Power Workbook, the ultimate hands-on guide for mastering advanced features of one of the world's most powerful and flexible open-source relational databases. Whether you are a developer, data engineer, or database administrator, this workbook is designed to transform your knowledge from intermediate to advanced through a structured, practice-oriented approach.
Unlike typical reference manuals or tutorial books, this workbook focuses on real-world applications, production-level optimization, and performance tuning strategies. You will gain practical experience through interactive exercises, troubleshooting guides, and project-based learning — all while building a strong conceptual foundation of advanced PostgreSQL features.
Inside this workbook, you will explore complex topics like query optimization, indexing strategies, replication, stored procedures, data modeling, and database automation. Each chapter is carefully crafted to simulate real-life database scenarios with step-by-step instructions, allowing you to immediately apply what you learn to your own PostgreSQL projects and environments.
The book begins with performance and optimization techniques, helping you to read and interpret execution plans, use advanced indexing methods, and implement parallel query execution to speed up data processing. You will learn how to create efficient queries that scale, making your database operations faster and more reliable.
As you progress, you will work with advanced data types such as JSON, arrays, UUIDs, and ranges, and dive into the power of Common Table Expressions (CTEs), window functions, and lateral joins. These features enable complex data transformations, analytics, and real-time reporting, giving you tools to handle sophisticated data workflows.
The procedural programming section introduces advanced PL/pgSQL concepts, including stored procedures, error handling, and database triggers. Learn how to create automated systems with event-driven logic and integrate scheduling with tools like pg_cron, building intelligent and maintainable solutions inside the database.
Security is also a core focus. You will configure role-based access control (RBAC), row-level security (RLS), and SSL encryption to ensure your PostgreSQL instance is protected in multi-user and production environments. You'll gain practical insight into implementing data-level security and secure connections across networks.
High availability is explored in depth, covering streaming replication, failover strategies with repmgr and Patroni, logical replication for data sharing, and point-in-time recovery (PITR) techniques to safeguard against data loss. You will also learn how to scale PostgreSQL horizontally using sharding and foreign data wrappers.
A dedicated section introduces essential PostgreSQL extensions such as pg_stat_statements, pgcrypto, and timescaledb, expanding the native capabilities of your PostgreSQL environment. For developers working in DevOps settings, the book covers how to deploy PostgreSQL using Docker and Kubernetes with real-world configurations for persistent storage and monitoring.
To ensure maximum reliability and performance, you will explore monitoring and logging tools such as pgBadger, Prometheus, and Grafana. These tools provide visibility into your database health and help you create alerts and performance dashboards to proactively manage your systems.
Whether you are preparing for PostgreSQL certification, managing enterprise-level applications, or simply aiming to become an advanced PostgreSQL user, this workbook is your complete, practical guide. By the end of the book, you will not only understand PostgreSQL’s advanced capabilities—you will be confident in using them efficiently, securely, and at scale.