PostgreSQL is a highly popular open-source database due to its rich feature set, robust performance, and flexible data handling. It is used everywhere from small websites to large-scale enterprise applications, attracting users with its object-relational capabilities, advanced indexing, and strong security. However, to truly unleash its potential, PostgreSQL demands fast storage. Its transactional nature and ability to handle large datasets require low latency and high throughput. This is why pairing PostgreSQL with fast storage solutions is crucial for optimizing performance, minimizing downtime, and ensuring seamless data access for demanding workloads.
For flexibility, scalability, and cost optimization, it is preferable to run PostgreSQL on Virtual Machines, especially in development and testing environments. But sometimes, Virtualization introduces an abstraction layer that can lead to performance overhead compared to running directly on bare metal. On the other hand, using just bare metal leads to non-optimal usage of the CPU and storage resources, because one application typically doesn’t fully utilize the bare metal server performance.