The Complete PostgreSQL Guide: Practical Techniques for Developers and DBAs

What if your PostgreSQL knowledge was the only thing standing between chaos and clarity in your database systems?
How confident are you—really—when it comes to writing performant queries, tuning configurations, or architecting a scalable backend?
Have you ever felt like PostgreSQL has more layers than you're prepared to handle? You're not alone. Maybe you’ve mastered basic CRUD operations and SELECT statements—but what happens when your manager asks you to optimize a slow query, or troubleshoot a deadlock, or design a partitioning strategy for millions of records? Do you wing it, Google it, or panic?
That’s exactly why The Complete PostgreSQL Guide: Practical Techniques for Developers and DBAs by Felix J. Stannard exists.
This isn’t just another book teaching you how to install PostgreSQL and run a SELECT statement. This is your hands-on battle plan for becoming dangerously good at PostgreSQL—whether you're a backend developer, aspiring database architect, or working DBA under pressure to keep systems humming at scale.
Let’s be honest.
Are you fully leveraging PostgreSQL’s power, or are you just scratching the surface?

• Can you structure a normalized schema while balancing performance and future-proofing?
• Do you know when to use CTEs vs subqueries—or how they impact performance in different contexts?
• Have you ever set up connection pooling, WAL archiving, or streaming replication with confidence?
• How well do you understand EXPLAIN plans and the real story your query planner is telling you?
• Can you set up role-based access, fine-grained security policies, or row-level permissions without second-guessing?
• What’s your failover plan when your primary crashes at 2 A.M.?

If even one of those questions made you pause—this book was written for you.
Inside, you’ll get tactical, real-world guidance—not just academic theory or shallow tutorials. You'll explore:

• Advanced data modeling with JSONB, arrays, and composite types
• Query performance tuning, indexing strategy, and caching considerations
• Backup/restore strategies, high availability setups, and disaster recovery
• Stored procedures, triggers, views, and function-driven architecture
• Security essentials, from SSL and pg_hba.conf to permission hierarchies
• Replication, logical decoding, and handling eventual consistency
• PostgreSQL configuration tweaks for production-grade systems
• Real scenarios, best practices, and war stories from seasoned pros

But here’s the real question: How long can you afford to keep “figuring it out as you go”?
Whether you're building apps, maintaining mission-critical systems, or preparing for your next big tech interview, you need to know how PostgreSQL works under the hood. The guesswork stops here.
This book isn't just a manual—it's a mindset shift.