EnterpriseDB vs. PostgreSQL (Postgres): Availability, DR, Security, & Performance
EnterpriseDB and Postgres are both open source databases. Here, we compare the similarities and differences of EnterpriseDB vs. Postgres.
EnterpriseDB vs. Postgres: What Are The Differences?
The biggest differences between EnterpriseDB and Postgres (also known as PostgreSQL) are high availability, disaster recovery, security, and performance. Keep reading to find out which database is stronger.
EnterpriseDB and Postgres are more comparable than one may think. Many organizations choose to utilize EnterpriseDB for the support that comes with it.
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EnterpriseDB vs. PostgreSQL: Feature Comparison
Here's a quick comparison of EnterpriseDB and PostgreSQL. Keep reading to go in-depth on these features.
Feature | EnterpriseDB | PostgreSQL |
|---|---|---|
Best-in-class tooling. | Community options: Bucardo or PGPool-II. | |
Complete DR solution, including replication. | Community options: Bucardo or PGPool-II. | |
Benchmark-specific standards (e.g. FIPS), enhanced data auditing capabilities, protection from SQL injections, and Row-Level Access Control. | Built-in: native authentication and authorization.
Community options: Sepgsql or Pgaudit.
| |
Query optimizer hints, session diagnostics, and analytics. | Built-in: Standard Config Options.
Community option: pgBadger.
|
High Availability
The EDB Postgres Enterprise Manager provides best-in-class tooling for the management of wide distributions of Postgres databases. On the community side, there are several options available. The most common ones are:
- Bucardo: A popular asynchronous and multi-master solution for replication backed by a very well-respected Postgres community.
- PGPool-II: One of the oldest and most mature solutions for HA with Postgres, PGPool takes a database connection pooling approach and creates a pool of highly available connections to Postgres.
Disaster Recovery
The EDB Postgres Enterprise Manager provides a complete HA and DR solution that includes replication. For community, both PGPool and Bucardo can be thought of as solutions as well because they also provide replication.
Enhanced Security
The EnterpriseDB platform provides additional security on top of what is already considered to be one of the most secure databases in the world, i.e. PostgreSQL. These features include SQL injection protection, enhanced data auditing, Row-Level Access Control, and standards specific to benchmarks such as FIPS.
Out of the box, PostgreSQL provides native authentication and authorization through standard configuration, as well as native TLS. Numerous free community libraries also exist, improving the already robust nature of Postgres’s security, such as:
- Sepgsql: Very interesting project which allows strict control over Postgres and table-level resources, using SELinux.
- Pgaudit: This project extends Postgres’s existing logging to provide much more verbose details about the current Postgres session.
Performance Optimization
The EnterpriseDB platform along with the Enterprise Manager provide a number of optimizations including:
- Query Optimizer Hints: Allows fine-grained control over the way the query engine plans iteration with the database.
- Session Diagnostics: Additional metrics available to clients regarding the health and performance of the database session.
- Analytics: Canned and calculated metrics giving further visibility into the health of the database engine.
As with any database, performance optimization is critical. Beyond facilities that are specific to Postgres, every layer of the stack should be involved when optimizing a database. This includes storage, network, client code, etc. As far as Postgres-specific solutions, the community provides many, including:
- pgBadger: A comprehensive, dashboard-driven tool for Postgres performance analysis.
- Standard Config Options: Postgres core contains same optimization flags as EnterpriseDB including checkpoint_segments and maintenance_work_mem.
How to Choose Between EnterpriseDB vs. Postgres
After discussing the functionalities of Enterprise DB and other solutions, there isn't anything (with the exception of the Oracle compatibility later in EDB) that can't also be replaced or found in some other open source tool or utility. The main reason people buy Enterprise DB is for support. Instead of choosing a restrictive license with segmented support, you could be utilizing a service like OpenLogic by Perforce.
OpenLogic delivers comprehensive PostgreSQL support services, so that your teams can enjoy the benefits of using open source — and confidently meet your requirements including compliance with regulations.
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