Drupal 7 and PostgreSQL

I am in the midst of preparing for my tutorial, Realistic Load Testing, at PGCon 2010. After talking with a number of folks at my favorite IRC channel, I decided to use the Drupal 7 Project as my test case.
For years, Drupal worked best with MySQL. Not that I harbor ill will against the database, it is just my experience with databases has led me to PostgreSQL as a superior engine. That said, MySQL works great for these types of applications. The types of applications we do at Digitec tend to need a much more robust solution.
With Drupal 7, there has been a more concerted effort in giving PostgreSQL a chance at being a valid alternative to MySQL. The code changes and the model the Drupal development team has made have helped.
My hope is that by using Drupal, I will not only give a good "real world" example application, but also give back to the Open Source community through the tests and tools that will be created for the tutorial. As Drupal 7 is still in beta development, I hope these tests can help the developers look into solutions for any problems that occur. I also hope that it will help in showing that PostgreSQL is a great fit for Drupal.

Realistic Load Testing

I just got word that I will be speaking at PGCon 2010. PGCon is a PostgreSQL Conference for Users and Developers held May 20-21, 2010 at University of Ottawa, with two days of Tutorials on May 18-19, 2010.

I will be leading a tutorial on Realistic Load Testing:

Applications and databases need testing. But how can you get valid results for a fully integrated system Flight-Check test at realistic loads? This tutorial addresses the many challenges that arise in an application or database development to give confidence to you and your customers in presenting a production-ready product.

After running into many obstacles in proving a recent enterprise product launch could handle the expected loads of our customers, Digitec, Inc. invested time in writing realistic Flight-Check tests using PostgreSQL functions and Python. The results of these tests gave confidence to the engineers, developers, and our customers that the entire system would be able to perform as designed.

Topics covered during this tutorial include:

• Shortfalls of FLOSS benchmark tests
• Identifying the Project Test Components
• Identifying Realistic Loads
• Identifying Historical Data
• Developing Tests and Procedures
• PostgreSQL Functions for Tests
• Python Scripts for Tests
• Helpful Tools

PGCon is the place to meet, discuss, build relationships, learn valuable insights, and generally chat about the work you are doing with PostgreSQL. If you want to learn why so many people are moving to PostgreSQL, PGCon will be the place to find out why. Whether you are a casual user or you've been working with PostgreSQL for years, PGCon will have something for you.

Come join me and many others and maybe we can hang out. I look forward to seeing many of my IRC friends there!

View the PGCon Schedule and register today!