---
title: "AWS's 'limitless' Postgres scaling"
publication: "Postgres Weekly"
issue: 532
published_at: "2023-11-29"
canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/532"
---

Plus a primer on Postgres's extensions ecosystem, and pgAdmin 4 reaches version 8.0. |        

#​532 — November 29, 2023 

[Web Version](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/532)  

Together with [![pgAnalyze\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,e_trim,w_350,h_100/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/lhwcvgc1asd4fzaahty4.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlNQTtfjlnI)   

Postgres Weekly 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/ztkesfltdc5sxeuwao9c.jpg)](https://blog.rustprooflabs.com/static/docs/pass2023--Extensions-Shape-the-Future.pdf)  

📊 PDF: [Extensions Shape the Future](https://blog.rustprooflabs.com/static/docs/pass2023--Extensions-Shape-the-Future.pdf) — A fantastic slide deck, built for a talk at _PASS Data Community Summit 2023_, that on its own does a great job of fleshing out where extensions sit in the Postgres ecosystem, as well as some recent developments in the space. 

Ryan Lambert   

[AWS Previews _Amazon Aurora Limitless Database_](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/join-the-preview-amazon-aurora-limitless-database/) — At _re:Invent_ this week, Amazon announced a preview of a new capability to support automated horizontal scaling into the millions of write transactions per second on a single Aurora PostgreSQL database. So not only can your database be limitless, your AWS bill can be, too. 

Channy Yun (AWS)   [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/79a376c7.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlNQTtfjlnI) 

[Automating Index Selection for Postgres Using Constraint Programming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlNQTtfjlnI) — What's hard about choosing an index? Making a trade-off between write overhead, HOT update impact and faster queries. Learn more about a new model, based on hierarchical optimization and CP-SAT that lets you control how indexes get selected automatically. 

pganalyze sponsor   

[Indexing `TIMESTAMP`s](https://momjian.us/main/blogs/pgblog/2023.html#November_22_2023) — There are a few ways to do it, with various tradeoffs where granularity and timezones are concerned. 

Bruce Momjian   

**IN BRIEF:** 

- Microsoft [introduces the `azure_ai` extension to Azure Database for PostgreSQL](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-database-for-postgresql/introducing-the-azure-ai-extension-to-azure-database-for/ba-p/3980291) to open up Azure's various AI services to your databases hosted there.
- AWS Amplify has added a new capability to [create a GraphQL API for any existing Postgres database](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/mobile/create-a-graphql-api-for-any-existing-mysql-and-postgresql-database/), even when hosted externally to AWS.
- AWS's Jonathan Katz went [super deep into accelerating vector-based queries](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/database/accelerate-hnsw-indexing-and-searching-with-pgvector-on-amazon-aurora-postgresql-compatible-edition-and-amazon-rds-for-postgresql/) on RDS when using HNSW indexing.   

[Why DoorDash Migrated from Aurora Postgres to CockroachDB](https://www.cockroachlabs.com/blog/aurora-postgres-to-cockroachdb/) — You'll initially get 'case study' vibes, but this post is based around [▶️ a detailed technical talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02XpcMkReWw) by a DoorDash engineer about the migration process and the motivations for it. 

Charlie Custer (Cockroach Labs)   

[Improve Postgres Performance and Lower Cloud Spend](https://info.enterprisedb.com/GL-MS-2023--EDB-Postgres-AWS-Cloud.html?utm_medium=advertising&utm_source=postgres-weekly&utm_content=cloud-microsite&utm_campaign=GL-MS-2023--EDB-Postgres-AWS-Cloud) 

EDB Postgres sponsor   

[Fun with Looped Functions and Linear Progressions](https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/fun-with-postgres-looped-functions-and-linear-progressions) — Greg continues with his _Advent of Code_ Postgres adventure with yet more pushing PL/pgSQL to its beautiful limits. 

Greg Sabino Mullane   

💡 If you want to join Greg and take part in this year's [Advent of Code](https://adventofcode.com/), it starts this Friday! You don't _have_ to use PL/pgSQL though.. 😅  

[Database Generated Columns in Django with Postgres](https://www.paulox.net/2023/11/24/database-generated-columns-part-2-django-and-postgresql/) — One for the Pythonistas! An introduction to database generated columns, using Postgres and the new GeneratedField added in Django 5.0. 

Paolo Melchiorre   

[What Timescale Learnt Benchmarking _Aurora PostgreSQL Serverless_](https://www.timescale.com/blog/what-we-learned-from-benchmarking-amazon-aurora-postgresql-serverless/) — When a vendor does a benchmark, they usually did well if they promote the results. Nonetheless, some conclusions can rarely be denied: _“Amazon Aurora Serverless is expensive.”_😅 

James Blackwood-Sewell (Timescale)   

['I figured out why `pg_dump` was failing with Postgres 15-16'](https://dan.langille.org/2023/11/22/i-figured-out-why-pg_dump-was-failing-with-postgresql-15-16/) — Postgres v15 and up changed the order of ways to determine where the `.pgpass` file might be. 

Dan Langille   

[Unlocking Secure Connections: A Guide to Postgres Authentication Methods](https://stormatics.tech/blogs/unlocking-secure-connections-a-guide-to-postgresql-authentication-methods) 
Semab Tariq   

▶[Unnesting an Array in Postgres](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_G7c6bwwgs) 
Coding with Missak    

Code and Tools 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/vy8j2u2qlglahrpw2jug.jpg)](https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.13.0)  

[TimescaleDB 2.13.0: The Time-Series Extension for Postgres](https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.13.0) — Timescale is increasingly known as [a business and managed platform](https://www.timescale.com/), but the core of their offering remains an open source extension. v2.13.0 introduces full Postgres 16 support, but AMI images are no longer to be published – it’s also the final version to include multi-node support. 

Timescale   

[PgHero 3.4: A Performance Dashboard for Postgres](https://github.com/ankane/pghero) — A dashboard built in Ruby (and used at Instacart) that lets you look at basic performance stats including live queries, maintenance status, and connections. v3.4 adds support for explaining normalized queries in Postgres 16, as well as a Docker image for`linux/arm64`. 

Andrew Kane   

- [pgAdmin 4 v8.0](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pgadmin-4-v80-released-2754/) – Leading graphical management tool for Postgres.
- [pg_auto_failover 2.1](https://github.com/hapostgres/pg_auto_failover) – Monitor and manage automated failover in a Postgres cluster. Now supporting Postgres 16.
- [postgres_exporter 0.15.0](https://github.com/prometheus-community/postgres_exporter) – Prometheus exporter for server metrics.
- [SQL Formatter 14.0](https://github.com/sql-formatter-org/sql-formatter) – JavaScript library for pretty printing SQL queries.
- [pgBadger 12.3](https://github.com/darold/pgbadger/releases/tag/v12.3) – Fast Postgres log analyzer.    

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