Category: RDS for PostgreSQL

In this post, we demonstrate improvements in planned failover downtime of Multi-AZ instance deployment with Amazon RDS Proxy, a result of several optimizations made by RDS. In the event of a failure, Amazon RDS automatically switches the roles of the primary and standby instances and updates the IP address associated with the database’s DNS (hostname). This allows client applications to maintain their connection settings during failover. This process, known as DNS propagation, can take up to 35 seconds to complete. RDS Proxy eliminates the 35 seconds of DNS propagation delay by continuously monitoring both instances, allowing it to bypass DNS propagation. This allows RDS Proxy to deliver a faster failover response for client applications, maximizing availability during failovers.

In this post, we introduce postgres_get_av_diag(), a new function available in RDS for PostgreSQL and Aurora PostgreSQL to monitor aggressive autovacuum blockers.

In this post, we demonstrate how to set up an event-driven workflow to run stored procedures for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with AWS Lambda to bridge this gap by securely connecting to an Aurora PostgreSQL database using AWS Secrets Manager, making sure that stored procedures can be managed in the cloud. We explore the step-by-step process, discuss the advantages of this approach, and address the limitations of invoking stored procedures from Lambda functions.

August 2025: This post was reviewed and updated for accuracy. PostgreSQL’s ability to handle concurrent access while maintaining data consistency relies heavily on its locking mechanisms, particularly at the row level. When multiple transactions attempt to lock the same row simultaneously, PostgreSQL turns to a specialized structure called MultiXact IDs. While MultiXacts provide an efficient […]

In this post, we guide you through the process of benchmarking the performance of Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL using the Dedicated Log Volume (DLV) feature. To do this, we use pgbench – a tool for running benchmark tests on PostgreSQL databases, pgbench repeatedly executes a defined sequence of SQL commands across multiple concurrent database sessions. Through our benchmarking, you’ll learn how to quantify the performance improvements delivered by DLV.

In certain customer scenarios, Amazon RDS for Oracle databases need to connect to external data sources, such as RDS for PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL can establish connections to Oracle databases using a foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this post, we walk you through setting up an EC2 instance as a database gateway server. You will install and configure Oracle Database Gateway for ODBC (DG4ODBC), ODBC drivers, a PostgreSQL client, and PostgreSQL libraries. With this setup, you can create database links on RDS for Oracle to connect to PostgreSQL through this gateway.

This post is co-authored with Kate Fike, Software Engineer at BCM One. BCM One is a leading global provider of NextGen Communications and Managed Services to IT leaders and channel resellers. They have multiple NextGen Communications brands, including Flowroute. Flowroute offers SIP trunking and a business messaging platform for mission-critical voice applications. In this post, […]

In this post, we discuss more PostgreSQL key concepts, including simple query protocol, explain plans, how to read explain plans, and tools to visualize these plans in Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition.

Customers migrating Oracle databases to Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL or Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL might encounter the challenge of scheduling jobs that require precise sub-minute scheduling to avoid workflow disruptions and maintain business operations. In this post, we demonstrate how you can use Trusted Language Extensions (TLEs) for PostgreSQL to install and use pg_dbms_job on Amazon Aurora and Amazon RDS. pg_dbms_jobs allows you to manage scheduled sub-minute jobs.

Some customers use Oracle UTL_HTTP package to write PL/SQL programs that communicate with web (HTTP) servers and invoke third-party APIs. When migrating to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition or Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for PostgreSQL, these customers need to perform a custom conversion of their SQL code since PostgreSQL does not offer a similar […]