ClickHouse's Enterprise Postgres: Fast & Scalable

ClickHouse: A Unified Data Stack

ClickHouse's announcement of a managed Postgres service is a compelling move, especially given its focus on integrating transactional and analytical workloads. The use of NVMe storage for enhanced performance is a key differentiator, promising significant speedups for disk-bound Postgres workloads. The native integration with ClickHouse, facilitated by CDC and the pg_clickhouse extension, offers a streamlined approach to building applications that span both transactional and analytical needs, potentially simplifying architectural complexity for developers. The partnership with Ubicloud, leveraging their expertise in providing high-performance Postgres services, appears strategically sound. However, the success of this offering hinges on a few factors. While the claim of 10X speedups is attractive, independent benchmarking is crucial to validate these claims across various workloads. The private preview phase will be critical to identify potential limitations and address any performance bottlenecks. Furthermore, the long-term sustainability and pricing strategy of the service will be pivotal for its adoption, especially considering the competitive landscape of managed Postgres solutions. The reliance on open-source components is a positive aspect, but the level of community support and the pace of feature development will also need to be closely monitored.

In terms of technical implications, the integration of CDC for real-time data replication from Postgres to ClickHouse is a critical feature. The pg_clickhouse extension, with its query pushdown capabilities, offers a unified query layer, though the degree of pushdown support and its expansion will define its utility. The choice of WAL-G for backups is a solid choice, ensuring reliability and disaster recovery. The focus on high availability with quorum-based replication is also important. A potential limitation could be the current AWS-only availability during the private preview. The success of the service would be determined by its support for other cloud providers like GCP and Azure. The seamlessness of the integration is paramount. The long-term success of this service will be measured by its ability to provide a compelling value proposition compared to established managed Postgres providers and other hybrid database solutions. The article emphasizes open-source philosophy, and the community will be looking for a commitment to open-source contribution and transparency.

The target audience appears to be developers and companies dealing with rapidly growing, data-intensive applications. The offering is particularly attractive for those already using or considering both Postgres and ClickHouse. The key benefit is the reduction in complexity and improved performance, allowing teams to focus more on application development rather than managing disparate database systems. This is particularly appealing in the context of AI-driven applications, where real-time analytics is increasingly important. This product is likely competing with established managed Postgres providers like AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and also with newer hybrid database solutions. The success of ClickHouse's offering will depend on its ability to offer a superior performance-to-cost ratio, its ease of use, and its seamless integration between Postgres and ClickHouse. The open-source foundation and community support will also be critical factors in its long-term viability.

Key Points

• Native, enterprise-grade Postgres service managed by ClickHouse, backed by NVMe storage for performance.
• Seamless integration with ClickHouse via CDC for real-time replication and the pg_clickhouse extension for unified querying.
• Up to 10X faster performance for disk-bound workloads and up to 100X faster analytics.
• Open-source foundation and a partnership with Ubicloud for expertise and community contributions.
• Available in private preview on AWS with plans to expand to other cloud providers.

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📖 Source: Fast, scalable, enterprise-grade Postgres natively integrated with ClickHouse