3 Reasons Why EDB (and Not Self-supported PostgreSQL) is The Smarter Choice

Are you struggling to keep up with managing your business data in this fast-paced digital world? You’re not alone. That’s why it’s crucial to have a reliable and cost-effective way to handle it.

You may have heard of PostgreSQL, which is a popular open-source relational database management system. But did you know that there are two versions to choose from: a self-supported version and an Enterprise DB (EDB) version that comes with additional features and support? In this blog post, we’re going to compare EDB to self-supported PostgreSQL and give you three key reasons why EDB is the better choice for your business.

1. Best-in-class Security Enhanced Auditing To ensure maximum security and transparency in your database, EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers enhanced auditing features that capture more detailed data about who did what and when in the database. Session tag auditing also enables the capture of middle-tier data, going beyond the generic database user IDs in PostgreSQL that may be shared in connection pools.

SQL Injection Protection
One of the biggest risks to your database is SQL injection attacks, where malicious SQL code can be entered into web form fields to damage or destroy data. Self-supported PostgreSQL users don’t have readymade protection against these attacks, but EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers SQL/Protect – a standard part of the system for years. It provides centralized, DBA-managed protection against a variety of SQL injection vectors, so you don’t have to rely solely on individual developers to consistently write bullet-proof code.

Security Certifications
EDB Postgres Advanced Server is the first PostgreSQL-based RDBMS to receive a Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) from the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), after a year of collaboration. It’s also the only PostgreSQL-based distribution on Windows that has FIPS 140-2 certification – a US government computer security standard used to approve cryptographic modules. With tools and techniques currently being developed to help make PostgreSQL databases compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers the added advantage of having additional security features not available in self-supported PostgreSQL, making it a more efficient and effective fit for GDPR compliance.

Data Redaction
Data Redaction is the process of hiding sensitive data in the results of a SQL query prior to delivery to applications. EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers centralized, on-the-fly data redaction, which is easy to set up and maintain compared to proxy-based programmed solutions. Unlike self-supported PostgreSQL, it offers a native, secure, and easy-to-use data redaction feature with Table Level Encryption (TLE), that allows you to hide sensitive data without actually changing data stored in the database.

Row-Level Security (RLS)
EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers an advanced Row-Level Security (RLS) feature that’s useful for multi-tenant applications or where different user populations must be restricted from accessing each other’s data. In response to customer requests, EDB added this feature many years ahead of its addition to PostgreSQL and did so in an Oracle-compatible fashion as a Virtual Private Database. As a result, users don’t have to wait as long for inclusion in PostgreSQL and can work directly with EDB to get this new feature implemented in line with their time requirements. EDB Postgres Advanced Server RLS is easy to use and maintain because it is policy-based, more flexible, and can be leveraged against application users.

1. Advanced Deployment Options EDB Postgres Advanced Server and its additional features provide an Oracle-identical experience that many EDB customers appreciate, even if they don’t use Oracle products. Oracle compatibility also helps them meet their mission-critical requirements.

Deployment Flexibility
Both PostgreSQL and EDB Postgres Advanced Server can be deployed in a variety of popular environments including bare metal, virtual machines, Kubernetes, and private and public clouds. EDB Products & Services provide users with a single organization for software acquisition, support, maintenance, and training across all these environments. Additionally, EDB Postgres Advanced Server can be deployed across multiple cloud providers, allowing users to optimize workload performance and price.

Challenges of Multiple Environments
Running multiple environments simultaneously presents unique challenges to provisioning, licensing, costs, management, monitoring, performance, security, high availability, replication, maintenance, scaling, data governance, and backup. Architecting a database platform for best practices across all these challenges can be time-consuming and require trial and error. Relying on a single platform from a single vendor is ultimately more efficient than dealing with multiple organizations, which is why EDB’s large customer base provides valuable insight into best practice competencies needed for success.

Adapting to Emerging Technologies
EDB continues to work with customers to apply their PostgreSQL knowledge to new environments and evolving requirements such as containers, hybrid cloud, and Platform as a Service. EDB’s specialized deployment tools provide a level of integration and automation in custom DevOps environments that self-supporting PostgreSQL users won’t have access to.

1. Superior Integration EDB Postgres Advanced Server is a robust relational database management system that provides several integration options with other databases. While some of these options are also available in self-supported PostgreSQL, they do not come with the support and expertise offered by EDB.

Heterogeneous Database Replication
The replication server provided by EDB Postgres Advanced Server offers versatile replication options. It has the unique ability to replicate between Postgres databases and Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases. For single-master replication, various configurations are supported, including replication between PostgreSQL and EDB Postgres Advanced Server databases in either direction, from Oracle to PostgreSQL, and between Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server and EDB Postgres Advanced Server in either direction.

For multi-master replication, the participating database servers must be of the same type. Replication Server offers table and record filtering, ensuring that only the required data is replicated and enhancing performance using binary replication technology available in PostgreSQL. Although self-supported PostgreSQL users can find single and multi-master solutions in the PostgreSQL ecosystem, these solutions require significant programming and setup specific to each installation. Community replication solutions also lack an easy-to-use GUI or CLI, unlike the Replication Server.

Oracle Database Links
The use of database links in EDB Postgres Advanced Server allows for a stronger connection with Oracle databases. By creating an object that references a table or view in a remote Oracle database based on OCI within a DELETE, INSERT, SELECT or UPDATE command, EDB Postgres Advanced Server enables direct operations between the two databases, without requiring additional software and hardware such as a standalone replication server.

Data Adapters
The EDB Postgres Advanced Server recognizes the importance of speciality and niche databases in large organizations, such as document and key-value-based databases, and large-scale data stores like Hadoop. It is necessary for a reliable relational database system to consolidate and integrate data from these sources.

To achieve this, EDB Postgres Advanced Server prioritizes integration with non-relational data formats. The company has taken a leading role in the PostgreSQL community by developing foreign data wrappers (FDWs) based on the SQL/MED standard, which enables SQL-based management of external data. EDB is the primary developer of community FDWs for MySQL, MongoDB, and Hadoop, which serve as the foundation for the EDB Postgres Advanced Server data adapters.

Although EDB contributes the FDWs to the community via GitHub, EDB Postgres Advanced Server remains the primary supplier of support and solution assistance for integrating MongoDB JSON data, Hadoop analytics data, and MySQL website data into Postgres and Oracle databases. This eliminates the need for additional software and hardware required by a solution like a standalone replication server.

So, there you have it! EDB is an excellent option for businesses that want a robust and reliable database system that can handle complex data integration needs. With its advanced features like multi-master replication and tight integration with Oracle databases, EDB is a top choice for large organizations that demand the best. And thanks to its support for foreign data wrappers based on the SQL/MED standard, EDB can easily integrate with non-relational data formats like MongoDB and Hadoop. Whether you’re dealing with structured or unstructured data, EDB has got you covered. So, if you’re looking for a high-performance, enterprise-grade database system, it’s high time to ditch self-supported PostgreSQL and check out EDB.

This article was originally published on our company blog.