Introducing private PostgreSQL instances

In October, we introduced the private MySQL instance installer as a solution to the “bad neighbor problem,” where one user consumes too much of a server’s shared MySQL database’s resources. Today, we’re introducing the private instance installer for PostgreSQL.

Like the private MySQL instance installer, there are a few details to consider:

• The private instance relies upon the server’s globally-installed PostgreSQL binaries and libraries. If a security problem is found in PostgreSQL, WebFaction will apply the appropriate patches and no action is required on your part.
• On CentOS 6 servers (web300 and greater), the version of PostgreSQL is 9.1. On CentOS 5 servers, the version of PostgreSQL is 8.3.
• The PostgreSQL configuration files are owned by your user account and the server process is run under your user account. This means that you have full control over how the instance is configured and when it starts and stops running.
• When the instance is installed, a cronjob is created to make sure the instance is running. Every 20 minutes the instance is checked, and if the instance is down, then it is restarted.
• When the instance is installed, a cronjob is created to dump all the of the instance’s databases to a file every 24 hours. One week old dumps are deleted automatically.
• The private instance may consume hundreds of megabytes of memory, depending on the instance’s configuration and the volume of data stored. The memory consumed counts toward your account’s memory allotment  For non-trivial datasets, we recommend upgrading to a minimum of 512 MB of memory or using one of our new 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB plans.
• To move data from the shared database server to a private instance, please see our importing and exporting documentation as a model for migrating your data.

Starting today you can use the one-click installer with the WebFaction control panel. Let us know what you think in the comments, and if you have any problems, join us in the Q&A Community.