PostgreSQL VPS
PostgreSQL from your distribution, initialised and listening on localhost only. You create the roles and databases, and you run the backups.
Who it suits
Apps on the same server that need a relational database, or a small database you reach over an SSH tunnel. It isn't a managed database: there's no automatic failover, point-in-time recovery or upgrade service.
Which plan
Budget suits a small app's database. PostgreSQL uses memory to cache data, so a busy database, or one larger than a gigabyte or two, is happier on Standard or Extreme.
What we install
PostgreSQL installed, initialised and started at boot, in the version your distribution ships. It listens on localhost only, so nothing is exposed until you choose to open it.
- postgresql
- postgresql-server
From order to ready
- Server ready. We email you when the server is running, and you can log in with SSH. The installer starts on that same first boot.
- Installer running. It logs to
/var/log/vps9-setup.log;tail -fit to watch. - Application ready. This can be minutes after SSH works. The installer writes its exit code to
/var/lib/vps9-setup.exit; a value of 0 means installation succeeded. PostgreSQL is ready whensudo -u postgres psql -c 'select version()'answers.
What you still do
- Run
sudo -u postgres psqlto get a prompt. - Create a role and database for your app.
- To reach it remotely, prefer an SSH tunnel over opening port 5432.
Exposure and security
Nothing is open: PostgreSQL listens on localhost, and with no password set, the postgres superuser can only log in locally as the postgres system user. To use it from your computer, tunnel with ssh -L 5432:127.0.0.1:5432 root@<your IPv4> instead of opening port 5432.
Backups and upgrades
Minor releases arrive with system updates. A major version upgrade, with pg_upgrade or a dump and restore, is yours to plan. Take regular pg_dump backups, copy them off the server, and test a restore. We run the hardware, the network and the first-boot install; after that, PostgreSQL is yours to run, and we don't manage or update it for you. Off-site backups of the whole disk are an optional paid add-on; they copy the disk as it is at one moment, so keep the app's own backups as well.