An Overview of MVCC in PostgreSQL

Happy New Year! NYCPUG is going to start off 2014 by diving into one of the central and most celebrated features of PostgreSQL - Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC).

Robert Sosinski from Lab49 will provides us a broad overview into how PostgreSQL implements Multi Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) and what this means as a developer. Scaling a data-tier requires multiple concurrent connections to a database that are all vying for read/write access of the same data. By understating MVCC, you will be able to grasp key parts of how PostgreSQL works, such as transactions and vacuuming. Furthermore, you will learn how to make PostgreSQL handle complex reads and writes and have better control over your data.

Key points discussed:

• MVCC; what is really happening when I write data.

• Vacuuming; why it is needed and what is really going on.

• Transactions; much more then just an undo button.

• Isolation levels; seeing only the data you want to see.

• Locking; ensure writes happen in the order you choose.

• Cursors; how to stream chronologically correct data more efficiency.

Food and beer / beverages will be provided by Lab49 for the meetup. Please RSVP with your full name for security in the building. We look forward to seeing you there!