---
title: "This Week's PostgreSQL Treats (#8)"
publication: "Postgres Weekly"
issue: 8
published_at: "2013-05-01"
canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/8"
---

Postgres Weekly Issue 8 - May 1, 2013

[Archives](http://postgresweekly.com/issues) [Read this issue on the Web](http://postgresweekly.com/issues/8)**Postgres Weekly****Issue 8**
May 1, 2013Featured[Postgres: the transaction system and how it works](https://github.com/postgres/postgres/blob/master/src/backend/access/transam/README?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)Want to get an idea of how transactions actually work inside Postgres? Hidden in the Postgres source is this great readme on how transactions are actually handled.[postgression: A PostgreSQL Database for Every Test Case](http://www.postgression.com/?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)If you're building your application and have good testing processes you may not want to have to deal with setting up Postgres locally to test. Postgression makes it easy for you to immediately a database within the cloud and use for testing, then throw it away. As its in the cloud you may have some latency when developing locally, but this setup works great for CI.From our sponsor[Heroku Postgres - Fully managed Postgres on EC2](https://postgres.heroku.com/?utm_source=postgresweekly=email=emailbanner?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)There's a lot to worry about when building your application; ensuring your database is secured, backed up, available shouldn't have to be part of that. Let Heroku Postgres focus on keeping your database running so you can take advantage of all the awesome features within Postgres.

_Heroku Postgres is the worlds largest provider of Postgres as a Service, offering fully managed databases on top of EC2. Get started today for free and scale easily as your application needs to._[![\](http://s3.amazonaws.com/nlga/uploads/item/image/10726/thumb125_125x125-build-more-blue.png)](https://postgres.heroku.com/?utm_source=postgresweekly=email=emailbanner?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)Other links[Secure deployment of PostgreSQL functions](http://joelonsql.com/2013/04/24/secure-deployment-of-postgresql-functions/?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)While there is often debate about whether to put functionality inside your database in the form of functions sometimes its inevitable. When you do ensuring you're not overwriting others functionality becomes a necessity. Here's how you can securely deploy function changes and diff them after within your database.[Introduction to PostgreSQL Arrays, Basic Concepts and Normalization Considerations](http://ledgersmbdev.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/introduction-to-postgresql-arrays-basic.html?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)[Securing PostgreSQL using hostssl cert clientcert=1](http://joelonsql.com/2013/04/27/securing-postgresql-using-hostssl-cert-clientcert1/?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)You can't be too safe when it comes to your data; unknown to many Postgres has great support for using SSL certs as authentication. Here's a great guide for getting setup with them.[Rails 4 UUID primary keys with PostgreSQL](http://labria.github.io/2013/04/27/rails-4-uuid-primary-keys-with-postgresql/?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)If building a distributed app sequentially incrementing ids start to fail you. A simple change thats great to do from the start of any project is to use UUID. You can easily swap our your primary key in rails to use the Postgres UUID datatype.[Heroku Postgres - GIS Support Now Available](https://blog.heroku.com/archives/2013/4/30/heroku_postgres_geospatial_support_now_available?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)[Async database access with PostgreSQL, Play, Scala and Heroku](http://mauricio.github.io/2013/04/29/async-database-access-with-postgresql-play-scala-and-heroku.html?utm_source=postgresweekly&utm_medium=email)Curated by [Craig Kerstiens](http://craigkerstiens.com/) and published by [Cooper Press](https://cooperpress.com/).
Want to sponsor an issue? See our [media kit.](https://cooperpress.com/mediakit2014q2.pdf)

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