PostgreSQL 9.0 Release Candidate Includes Binary Replication

The first release candidate for PostgreSQL 9.0 has arrived with built-in binary replication technology.

Expected to be ready for final release sometime in September, the RC represents a significant overhaul for the database, said PostgreSQL core team member Josh Berkus. New features include per-column and conditional triggers, performance enhancements for object-relational-mapper queries and exclusion constraints. At the top of the list is binary replication.

“Binary replication is, of course, big news for the many people who are now looking for migration options due to the recent database company acquisitions,” Berkus said. “While PostgreSQL had replication options before – such as Slony-I, Londiste, pgPool2 and Bucardo – the lack of any form of replication built into the PostgreSQL core and capable of very simple configurations has been a longstanding complaint of users seeking to migrate from MySQL, Sybase, Oracle and others.”

Advantages of binary replication

Berkus added that replication based on binary data logging, as opposed to replicating SQL statements or rows, is similar to Oracle’s Hot Standby Databases.

“There are several advantages of binary replication for cloud and SAAS [software as a service] hosting,” he said. “First, binary replication works well together with virtual machine cloning tools for rapid deployment. Second, a single master can support very large numbers of slaves (20 to 100) due to the very low overhead on the master for each slave.”

The new release also includes full support for 64-bit Windows systems.

More details on what’s under the hood in Version 9.0 can be found here.