Learning Heroku Postgres (2015)
Preface
This book is a definitive guide on how to use PostgreSQL on Heroku. Learn how to work with backups, dataclips, rollback, followers, forks, extensions, PostGIS, data caching, tuning, log statements, and common errors.
Heroku Postgres allows you to manage your PostgreSQL databases in a simple, worry-free way and from anywhere. Through the offered features, you can easily scale your database and extend functionalities.
This book is suitable for all Heroku Postgres user levels and offers knowledge that will help you manage your database with tranquility. The book covers simple topics until we reach more complex issues such as data caching and tuning. Through this book, you will be able to work with all the functionalities provided by Heroku Postgres.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Getting Started with Heroku Postgres, introduces the Heroku architecture and how to build applications using Heroku Postgres. It also describes the key concepts about Heroku.
Chapter 2, Heroku Toolbelt, describes the Heroku Toolbelt and all the necessary tools to get started using Heroku at the command-line.
Chapter 3, Postgres Add-on, covers how to configure your local development environment, how to use the add-on, how to create your database, and how to connect using different programming languages. It also introduces the concepts of monitoring and information logs.
Chapter 4, PG Backups, introduces how to generate backups, import/export databases, data security, continuous protection, and how to upgrade your database plan.
Chapter 5, Dataclips, describes how dataclips work and how to share them with your colleagues. It also provides knowledge about security and limitations.
Chapter 6, Rollback, Followers, and Forks, covers important concepts related to security, stability, and experiments in using PostgreSQL database on the Heroku platform. It discusses topics related to rollback, followers, and forks.
Chapter 7, Understanding Log Statements and Common Errors, introduces how to view logs, how to collect metrics, and how to understand the most common errors.
Chapter 8, Extensions, PostGIS, Full Text Search Dictionaries, Data Caching, and Tuning, describes a collection of advanced features: how to install the main extensions of the Postgres database, how to enable PostGIS for work with spatial data, how to make optimizations, the text search tools, and the data cache.
Appendix A, Keyword List, contains a set of keywords used in this book, along with their definitions to facilitate better understanding of the concepts.
Appendix B, Self-test Answers, contains the answers to questions in each chapter that help test the knowledge you acquired.
What you need for this book
The software needed for this book includes the Heroku Toolbelt (client) (https://toolbelt.heroku.com), your preferred IDE such as Sublime Text (http://www.sublimetext.com), PostgreSQL (http://www.postgresql.org), pgAdmin (http://www.pgadmin.org), the Google Chrome web browser, and a Terminal.
Who this book is for
Learning Heroku Postgres is suitable for developers and database administrators. Even if you are new to Heroku Postgres, you will be able to master both the basic functions and the advanced features of Heroku Postgres. Since Heroku Postgres maintains an incredibly user-friendly interface, no previous experience in computer coding or programming is required.
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows:
In the case of Ruby on Rails, these dependencies are found in Gemfile in Python requirements.txt, in Node.js package.json, and in Java pom.xml.
Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
$ heroku pg:info --app learning-heroku-postgres-app
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "clicking the Next button moves you to the next screen".
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Tip
Tips and tricks appear like this.