A concise guide to translating SQL Server performance and safety best practices into PostgreSQL workflows.
SQL Server and PostgreSQL share ANSI-SQL roots. Index design, transaction control, and security principles translate well and boost cross-database skills.
Create selective B-tree indexes on foreign keys and filter columns used in WHERE clauses. Index only what the query planner needs; over-indexing slows writes.
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_customer_id
ON Orders(customer_id);
Use UNIQUE constraints, CHECK constraints, and FOREIGN KEYS.They prevent bad data before it reaches application code.
ALTER TABLE OrderItems
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_order
FOREIGN KEY (order_id) REFERENCES Orders(id);
Wrap logic in a plpgsql DO block or function and trap exceptions with EXCEPTION WHEN.Roll back or log as required.
DO $$
BEGIN
-- complex logic here
EXCEPTION WHEN others THEN
RAISE NOTICE 'Error handled';
END$$;
Leave autovacuum on, tune autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor
and autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor
per large table to prevent bloat.
ALTER TABLE OrderItems SET ( autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor = 0.05, autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor = 0.02);
Use ALTER SYSTEM
for cluster-wide settings and ALTER DATABASE ...SET
for per-database overrides, similar to SQL Server’s sp_configure and database-scoped options.
Create login-like roles without LOGIN, grant privileges through them, and map users via role membership.Revoke default PUBLIC rights from new schemas.
CREATE ROLE app_readonly NOLOGIN;
GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO app_readonly;
SELECT *
; project needed columns only.Track wait events, deadlocks, and long-running queries in pg_stat_activity
. Set log_min_duration_statement
to 500 ms for slow query logs.
.
PostgreSQL’s CLUSTER command physically orders data once. It does not maintain the order automatically; re-cluster or use partitioning for frequent benefits.
Use a covering index that lists all required columns. PostgreSQL stores full row data in the index, so included columns are implicit.
Rewrite T-SQL procedures into plpgsql or SQL functions. Pay attention to syntax differences in variables, looping, and error handling.