The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has announced the release of PostgreSQL 9.1. This latest version of the open source database offers important new features such as synchronous replication, K-Nearest Neighbor indexing, and foreign data wrappers.
According to the development group, Version 9.1 provides several features which users have been requesting for years, removing roadblocks to deploying new or ported applications on PostgreSQL. These include: Synchronous Replication - to enable high-availability with consistency across multiple servers; Per-Column Collations - to support linguistically-correct sorting per database, table or column; and Unlogged Tables - to improve performance for ephemeral data.
In addition, Version 9.1 includes several features which are new to the database industry, such as K-Nearest-Neighbor Indexing for faster location and text-search queries; Serializable Snapshot Isolation to keep concurrent transactions consistent without blocking, using "true serializability"; Writeable Common Table Expressions to execute complex multi-stage data updates in a single query; and Security-Enhanced Postgres for deploying military-grade security and Mandatory Access Control.
PostgreSQL's extensibility enables users to add new functionality to a running production database, and use them for tasks no other database system can perform. Version 9.1 adds new extensibility tools, including Foreign Data Wrappers to attach and query other databases from PostgreSQL; and Extensions to easily create, load, and manage new database features.
"The community release of PostgreSQL 9.1 demonstrates that PostgreSQL is still the most advanced open source database available today," Karen Tegan Padir, vice president of Product Management, EnterpriseDB, a provider of enterprise-class products and services based on PostgreSQL, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "The addition of synchronous replication ensures high-availability across nodes limiting the possibility of data loss for customers. With the cutting-edge feature of transaction-level synchronous replication, users can choose per transaction between response time and data consistency. The unlogged tables feature also provides a way to improve performance, where durability is less important, all the while keeping the data managed within PostgreSQL. EnterpriseDB is proud to contribute and work with the PostgreSQL communities at large."
New features are detailed on the What's New In 9.1 wiki page. Learn more about PostgreSQL and the community at www.postgresql.org.