Interview with Percona
Find out more about our sponsor Percona
Any views or opinions represented or expressed in this interview belong solely to the interviewee and do not necessarily represent those of the PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2024 organization, PostgreSQL Europe, or the wider PostgreSQL community, unless explicitly stated.
Which feature is missing in PostgreSQL?
We see a lot of users running into serious problems due to the lack of a standard (ANSI SQL) compliant Temporary table implementation. The current implementation is source of many problems. Another interesting feature we would welcome would be to allow more control over bloat. Sounding way easier than it definitely is to be implemented we see a lot of user issues due to the lack of this. Lastly of course the lacking feature is the Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) available with all other top databases, but here we have a solution coming with our pg_tde extension already!
Which PostgreSQL extension do you benefit from most, and why?
pg_repack - because it addresses the limitation of PostgreSQL in reorganizing / repacking tables and indexes. It became an essential extension in DBAs arsenal.
Where is the database world heading to, and how is PostgreSQL suited for this journey?
The tension between specialised single purpose database engines and additional capabilities in established multi-model database engines will increase. Look at the proliferation of tools around vector data and the introduction of graph queries to the SQL standard for recent examples. Postgres’s extensibility and the ability of the community, at least some of the time, to coalesce behind one or a few projects rather than proliferating projects and dispersing efforts set Postgres up to excel as a multi-model alternative. Vector capabilities provide a good recent example of this this consolidation with the people behind pg_embedding joining the pg_vector efforts.
In which areas do you expect PostgreSQL to grow most and how does your company contribute to and benefit from that growth?
Expect maybe not but hope. The area would be native replication provided by PostgreSQL. While there is a solution in form of pg_logical the recent developments in PG16 and PG17 make us hopeful that the replication related needs of our customers could be solved by the core PostgreSQL server. How we contribute is we deliver open source products available to all PostgreSQL users! We push the efforts to make PostgreSQL more secure with our pg_tde solution. We also make it easier to monitor PostgreSQL both with Percona Monitoring and Management (PMM) as well as pg_stat_monitor extension.
What makes your company a great place to work?
Percona is a great place to work because it offers an environment where people are truly passionate about what they do. The team is motivated and engaged, making each day at work exciting and rewarding. This shared commitment to excellence is what makes Percona special. If you want to change the way people use databases and are passionate about your work, this is the place for you!
