Do you have PostgreSQL databases that need to be replicated for Disaster Recovery or High Availability?
Would you like to share data between multiple PostgreSQL databases in near real-time?
Do you have data in an Oracle database you’d like to share to a PostgreSQL database?
Do you have data in a PostgreSQL database that you need in an Oracle database?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, or if you have another reason to need replication, you need to consider Quest’s award-winning, multi-platform replication tool: SharePlex.
PostgreSQL Replication
Recent versions of PostgreSQL support both logical and physical replication from one PostgreSQL database to another.
Physical replication involves copying or streaming the Write-Ahead-Log (WAL) from a source to target and requires operating system level access to both the source and target.
Logical replication first reads the WAL to allow some selectivity in what gets replicated, and can be accomplished remotely, without operating system access, making it suitable for Database as a Service Platforms (DBaaS) such as Amazon and Azure cloud services.
Limitations
While “native” PostgreSQL replication may be adequate for some use cases, there are some significant limitations.
One-way Only
PostgreSQL replication is fundamentally one-way. While bi-directional or peer-to-peer replication is possible, there is no built-in functionality to prevent “circular” replication where a change in one database is propagated repeatedly. Also, detecting and resolving conflicts, where a record is simultaneously updated in both databases, must be performed by external processes.
Single Platform
PostgreSQL replication is strictly that, replication between PostgreSQL databases. If you need to stream data to an event broker such as Kafka, or share data with an Oracle database, or load data into a NO-SQL database, you’ll need another tool.
SharePlex – The Logical Alternative
Quest SharePlex overcomes the limitations of native PostgreSQL and provides true cross-platform replication and peer-to-peer replication with built-in conflict resolution.
Multi-Platform
Building on over 25 years of experience with Oracle-to-Oracle replication, SharePlex now supports PostgreSQL as a source, with replication to multiple database targets, including PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL.
SharePlex can also replicate change data in JSON or XML format from PostgreSQL to Apache Kafka or Kafka-based brokers such as Confluent or Azure Event Hub; or to files that can then be copied anywhere.
Peer-to-Peer Replication
SharePlex supports full peer-to-peer replication, not only from PostgreSQL to PostgreSQL, but also PostgreSQL to Oracle or Oracle to PostgreSQL. This gives you the freedom to build applications got either database, while maintaining consistent data.
SharePlex also prevents “circular” replication and can automatically detect and resolve conflicts.
Other Advantages
SharePlex can use either physical or logical replication; but no matter how the data is captured, SharePlex provides full selection of what gets replicated, all the way down to individual rows or columns.
From one capture process, SharePlex can replicate to multiple target databases. You could replicate your entire database to another site for disaster recovery, and at the same time select some tables to be replicated to a reporting database, or to a cloud-based analytics platform.
Click here to learn more about how SharePlex can address your PostgreSQL replication needs.