Re: pgSQL deployment

LSanchez(at)ameritrade(dot)com wrote:
> We're currently in the process of evaluating pgSQL to migrate from
> Oracle, which is our enterprise rdbms.
Good choice ;-)

> (1) is it advisable to give training classes to application
> development team, if yes, how could we get these services and who
> should we contact?;

I just dealt with this myself a week ago. I gave 2 days of training
for the development team, QA, DBAs, and Unix sysadmin -- covering
(rough outline):

Obtaining source and binary distributions
Installation
File topology
Where to find help
Available GUIs
Database creation
Schema
Data types
Indexes
Constraints
Primary keys
Foreign key references
Inheritance
Bulk import/export
Views
Functions
User Defined Aggregates
Table Functions
Triggers
Domains
Rules
Casts
Operators
Configuration
Security
Maintenance
Upgrades
Tuning

We set up a bunch of old PCs that no one else wanted with Fedora Core 2
(very nice, BTW) so everyone could play along. Overall it went quite
well, and our Oracle developers and DBAs were suitably impressed with
Postgres by the time it was done.

I don't know specifically who you should call, but here's a list of
consulting companies from Techdocs:
http://techdocs.postgresql.org/companies.php

> (2) do you have a "cheat sheet" of all of the essential things needed
> to quickly port from Oracle to pgSQL?;

Nothing comprehensive, because every application will be a bit
different. But here's a start:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/plpgsql-porting.html
http://www.samse.fr/GPL/ora2pg/ora2pg.html#description
http://sdm.openacs.org/doc/openacs/html/oracle-to-pg-porting.html
http://gborg.postgresql.org/project/orapgsqlviews/projdisplay.php

> (3) how would the information be disseminated to all of the other
> parties involved (i.e., QA, networking, operations)?;

See above -- I think training them at the same time is a good start.

> (4) what are the best practices for setting up the dev, qa test, and
> production environments; etc.

I don't think Postgres is any different in this regard -- was there
something specific you are worried about being different?

HTH,

Joe