Re: PostgreSQL Portable

Rémi Cura <remi.cura@xxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:40:21 +0200

Hey,
I'm working in GIS field and I had the same problems.
Solution I found, which has been working for the past year :
virtual box on external drive !
This way you can have an independent OS (Linux for easy postgres/postgis/whatever gis you want).

I find it very comfortable because my server is separated from guest os. So I can take the disk and work on any pc with virtual box installed (require admin right), and I have all GIS tools on the server, so the virtual machine is very self contained.
It is also easy to backup (but very slow due to huge iso file).

I use a USB2 okay-ish disk. Guest win XP 64 / win seven 32 ; Host Ubuntu 12.04 32b.
About perfo : I do complex queries. Perf are OK for my use case (about same as a dedicated XP 32bit).

Using the external disk to hold a table space is a __very__ bad idea.
As soon you do some upgrade/the disk get disconnected/anything happen, you are really screwed.
(I had the issue. Without backup you can't do much without very strong postgres skills)

Cheers,
Rémi-C

2014-09-10 23:50 GMT+02:00 Steve Crawford <scrawford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

    On 09/10/2014 02:00 PM, Daniel Begin
      wrote:

        First, I am a Newbie regarding PostgreSQL …

        I just started to look at PostgreSQL to
          implement a large GIS DB (1Tb).  The data must reside in an
          external disk with eSATA connection and may be moved to
          different locations (and Windows desktops/laptops). I was
          looking to install PostgreSQL and PostGIS extensions on each
          PC (setting-up the proper PGDATA directory to the external
          disk) until I read about PostgreSQL and PgAdmin Portable …

        http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgadminportable/
        http://sourceforge.net/projects/postgresqlportable/

        Is that a viable alternative considering
          the expected size of the DB? Any comments or proposal would be
          appreciated J
        Daniel

    It appears you are looking to take the PostgreSQL data directory
    from machine to machine on an external drive. I fear you will run
    into some potential problems:

    1. Performance (mentioned by others).

    2. OS mismatch. Have you ensured that all client machines are
    running identical setups? The underlying files are not guaranteed
    portable between OS versions and 64/32-bit. In fact they probably
    won't be.

    3. Backups. What happens when one user screws up the database?

    Perhaps you could explain further the genesis of this requirement.
    The message list is littered with questions like this asking how to
    implement a certain solution when, given an understanding of the
    reason the question is being asked, a far better solution exists.
    This happens even more often when the person asking is a "newbie."

    Cheers,

    Steve