using SQL for multi-machine job management?

I'm considering using PostgreSQL as part of the implementation of a
multi-machine job management system. Here is an overview of the system:

-jobs are submitted by an API and stored to a SQL database. Jobs contain a
list of source filenames and a description of the operations to perform on
the files (compress file, add it to an archive, encrypt it, compare with
other file, etc).

-multiple machines (up to 50?) look at the database and grabs a job. It
will update the database to indicate that it will be the machine running
this job. It will also update the database with the current completion
progress (%) of this job.

1)Is this something done often using SQL databases?
2)The jobs will be quite CPU intensive: will I run into trouble if the
database is located on one of the machine which will be executing the jobs?
3)I would like to have a backup ready to take over if the machine with the
database fails. Only some of the info I store (data about a job, machine
that is executing the job) is important to back up. Things like job
progress doesn't have to be backed up. Any tips on how I should set up the
database to accomplish this?

Thanks!
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