Thread: Volunteer to build a configuration tool
I am a Java Software architect, DBA, and project manager for the University of Illinois, Department of Web Services. We use PostgreSQL to serve about 2 million pages of dynamic content a month; everything from calendars, surveys, forms, discussion boards, RSS feeds, etc. I am really impressed with this tool.
The only major problem area I have found where PostgreSQL is really lacking is in “what should my initial configuration settings be?” I realize that there are many elements that can impact a DBA’s specific database settings but it would be nice to have a “configuration tool” that would get someone up and running better in the beginning.
This is my idea:
A JavaScript HTML page that would have some basic questions at the top:
1) How much memory do you have?
2) How many connections will be made to the database?
3) What operating system do you use?
4) Etc…
Next the person would press a button, “generate”, found below the questions. The JavaScript HTML page would then generate content for two Iframes at the bottom on the page. One Iframe would contain the contents of the postgresql.conf file. The postgresql.conf settings would be tailored more to the individuals needs than the standard default file. The second Iframe would contain the default settings one should consider using with their operating system.
My web team would be very happy to develop this for the PostgreSQL project. It would have saved us a lot of time by having a configuration tool in the beginning. I am willing to make this a very high priority for my team.
Thanks,
Lance Campbell
Project Manager/Software Architect
Web Services at Public Affairs
University of Illinois
217.333.0382
http://webservices.uiuc.edu
On 18/06/07, Campbell, Lance <lance@uiuc.edu> wrote: > > Next the person would press a button, "generate", found below the questions. > The JavaScript HTML page would then generate content for two Iframes at the > bottom on the page. One Iframe would contain the contents of the > postgresql.conf file. The postgresql.conf settings would be tailored more > to the individuals needs than the standard default file. The second Iframe > would contain the default settings one should consider using with their > operating system. > I think it could be a great help to newbies. IMVHO a bash script in dialog could be better than a javascript file. There are many administrators with no graphics navigator or with no javascript. > -- http://www.advogato.org/person/mgonzalez/
Mario, The JavaScript configuration tool I proposed would not be in the install of PostgreSQL. It would be an HTML page. It would be part of the HTML documentation or it could be a separate HTML page that would be linked from the HTML documentation. Thanks, Lance Campbell Project Manager/Software Architect Web Services at Public Affairs University of Illinois 217.333.0382 http://webservices.uiuc.edu -----Original Message----- From: Mario Gonzalez [mailto:gonzalemario@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 10:16 AM To: Campbell, Lance Cc: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org; pgsql-performance@postgresql.org Subject: Re: [DOCS] Volunteer to build a configuration tool On 18/06/07, Campbell, Lance <lance@uiuc.edu> wrote: > > Next the person would press a button, "generate", found below the questions. > The JavaScript HTML page would then generate content for two Iframes at the > bottom on the page. One Iframe would contain the contents of the > postgresql.conf file. The postgresql.conf settings would be tailored more > to the individuals needs than the standard default file. The second Iframe > would contain the default settings one should consider using with their > operating system. > I think it could be a great help to newbies. IMVHO a bash script in dialog could be better than a javascript file. There are many administrators with no graphics navigator or with no javascript. > -- http://www.advogato.org/person/mgonzalez/
On 18/06/07, Campbell, Lance <lance@uiuc.edu> wrote: > Mario, > The JavaScript configuration tool I proposed would not be in the install > of PostgreSQL. It would be an HTML page. It would be part of the HTML > documentation or it could be a separate HTML page that would be linked > from the HTML documentation. > Ok, then I'm not the correct person to make that decision, however just a tip: the postgresql documentation was wrote in DocBook SGML > -- http://www.advogato.org/person/mgonzalez/
On 6/19/07, Campbell, Lance <lance@uiuc.edu> wrote: > Mario, Lance, > The JavaScript configuration tool I proposed would not be in the install > of PostgreSQL. It would be an HTML page. It would be part of the HTML > documentation or it could be a separate HTML page that would be linked > from the HTML documentation. So you're not after a tool that configures postgres at all, just one that can give you sensible guesstimates for some parameters based on your intended use? > Thanks, > > Lance Campbell Cheers, Andrej -- Please don't top post, and don't use HTML e-Mail :} Make your quotes concise. http://www.american.edu/econ/notes/htmlmail.htm
Campbell, Lance wrote: > Next the person would press a button, “generate”, found below the > questions. The JavaScript HTML page would then generate content for two > Iframes at the bottom on the page. One Iframe would contain the > contents of the postgresql.conf file. The postgresql.conf settings > would be tailored more to the individuals needs than the standard > default file. The second Iframe would contain the default settings one > should consider using with their operating system. > Man, it's not that easy. :-) Mainly because you will need some database activity. For example, work_mem, checkpoint_segments, and checkpoint_timeout depends on the database's dynamic. Database are not that static so another idea is to build a piece of software that monitors the database and do the modifications based on some observations (log, stats, etc). Don't forget that some of these options need a restart. So maybe your tool just advise the DBA that he/she could change option X to Y. Such a tool was proposed later [1] but it's not up to date. :( [1] http://pgfoundry.org/projects/pgautotune/ -- Euler Taveira de Oliveira http://www.timbira.com/