About This Course
PostgreSQL is one of the world's most advanced open-source relational database management systems, trusted by governments, financial institutions, technology companies, and NGOs across the globe. As organisations increasingly migrate from proprietary database platforms to cost-effective, high-performance open-source alternatives, the demand for skilled PostgreSQL Database Administrators has surged dramatically. This training programme addresses that skills gap with a structured, practitioner-focused curriculum designed for professionals who need to manage, secure, and optimise PostgreSQL environments in real production settings.
The TrainingComplex PostgreSQL DBA Training is a comprehensive 10-day programme that takes participants from foundational architecture concepts through to advanced topics including replication, high availability, query optimisation, and disaster recovery. Rather than limiting instruction to theory, each module is reinforced with guided laboratory exercises, real-world case studies, and hands-on configuration tasks performed in live PostgreSQL environments. Participants leave with practical experience they can apply immediately within their organisations.
The programme is structured to build competency progressively. Early modules establish a solid understanding of PostgreSQL architecture, installation, and core administration tasks. Mid-programme modules cover performance tuning, indexing strategies, transaction management, and security hardening. Advanced modules then address replication configurations, monitoring, automation, and cloud-based PostgreSQL deployments. This sequencing ensures that participants at the intermediate level can engage confidently with advanced content by the time it is introduced.
Whether your organisation runs on-premise data centres, hybrid infrastructure, or cloud platforms such as AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, or Azure Database for PostgreSQL, this course equips your database administrators with the depth of knowledge required to deliver reliable, secure, and high-performing database services to the business.
Who Should Attend
- Database Administrators transitioning from other RDBMS platforms (Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server) to PostgreSQL
- Junior and mid-level DBAs seeking to formalise and deepen their PostgreSQL expertise
- Systems and infrastructure engineers responsible for database services within their organisations
- Backend developers who manage or heavily interact with PostgreSQL databases in production
- DevOps and cloud engineers overseeing PostgreSQL deployments on cloud platforms
- IT managers and technical leads who need a thorough understanding of PostgreSQL capabilities and administration overhead
- Data engineers building pipelines or warehouses on top of PostgreSQL or its extensions
Learning Objectives
- Understand PostgreSQL's architecture, process model, memory structures, and storage system
- Install, configure, and harden a PostgreSQL server for production use
- Create and manage databases, schemas, roles, tablespaces, and objects using both SQL and administrative tools
- Design and implement robust backup and point-in-time recovery strategies using pg_dump, pg_basebackup, and WAL archiving
- Apply advanced indexing strategies and use the query planner and EXPLAIN ANALYZE to optimise slow queries
- Configure and manage streaming replication, logical replication, and failover mechanisms for high availability
- Implement PostgreSQL security controls including role-based access control, row-level security, SSL/TLS, and auditing
- Monitor database health and performance using pg_stat views, logging, and third-party monitoring tools
- Manage routine DBA tasks such as VACUUM, ANALYZE, table bloat management, and autovacuum tuning
- Deploy and administer PostgreSQL in containerised environments (Docker) and major cloud platforms
- Automate DBA tasks using shell scripting, pgAgent, and cron-based job scheduling
- Troubleshoot common PostgreSQL issues including lock contention, replication lag, and connection exhaustion
- Evaluate and use PostgreSQL extensions such as PostGIS, pg_partman, pgAudit, and pg_cron for specialised workloads
Course Modules
Module 1: PostgreSQL Architecture and Core Concepts
- Overview of PostgreSQL history, licensing, and ecosystem
- Process model: postmaster, backend processes, and background workers
- Memory architecture: shared buffers, work_mem, WAL buffers, and maintenance_work_mem
- Storage layout: data directory structure, tablespaces, and file organisation
- Transaction model, MVCC, and the role of the WAL
- Comparison with other RDBMS platforms and migration considerations
Module 2: Installation, Initialisation, and Server Configuration
- Installing PostgreSQL from official repositories on Ubuntu and RHEL/CentOS
- Initialising a database cluster with initdb and understanding pg_hba.conf
- Configuring postgresql.conf for development versus production workloads
- Managing the PostgreSQL service with systemd and pg_ctl
- Setting up multiple PostgreSQL instances on a single server
- Upgrading between major PostgreSQL versions using pg_upgrade
Module 3: Database Objects and Schema Management
- Creating and managing databases, schemas, and tablespaces
- Creating and altering tables, data types, constraints, and sequences
- Views, materialised views, and their refresh strategies
- Stored procedures, functions, and triggers in PL/pgSQL
- Managing indexes: B-Tree, Hash, GIN, GiST, and BRIN index types
- Object ownership, search_path configuration, and schema best practices
Module 4: User Management, Roles, and Access Control
- PostgreSQL role model: login roles, group roles, and superusers
- Creating, altering, and dropping roles with appropriate privilege scoping
- GRANT and REVOKE syntax for object-level and schema-level permissions
- Row-level security (RLS) policies and their practical use cases
- Configuring pg_hba.conf for authentication methods: md5, scram-sha-256, peer, and cert
- Implementing SSL/TLS for encrypted client-server communication
Module 5: Backup Strategies and Point-in-Time Recovery
- Logical backups with pg_dump and pg_dumpall: formats, options, and automation
- Restoring from logical backups using pg_restore and psql
- Physical backups with pg_basebackup: full and incremental approaches
- WAL archiving configuration and the archive_command parameter
- Point-in-time recovery (PITR): concepts, configuration, and practice
- Backup verification, retention policies, and offsite storage considerations
Module 6: Replication and High Availability
- WAL-based streaming replication: primary and standby server setup
- Monitoring replication lag using pg_stat_replication and pg_stat_wal_receiver
- Synchronous versus asynchronous replication and their trade-offs
- Logical replication: publications, subscriptions, and use cases
- Automatic failover with Patroni and etcd or Consul for HA clustering
- Connection pooling with PgBouncer for load distribution and connection management
Module 7: Query Optimisation and the Query Planner
- Understanding how the PostgreSQL query planner generates and selects execution plans
- Using EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE to interpret query execution plans
- Index selection and when to use partial, expression, and covering indexes
- Statistics collection with ANALYZE and adjusting statistics targets
- Identifying and resolving sequential scans, nested loops, and hash join inefficiencies
- Using pg_stat_statements to identify top resource-consuming queries across the workload
Module 8: Routine Maintenance and Autovacuum Tuning
- Understanding table and index bloat and their impact on performance
- The VACUUM and ANALYZE commands: manual execution and scheduling
- Configuring autovacuum: cost-delay, scale factors, and per-table overrides
- Freezing transactions and managing transaction ID wraparound
- Monitoring bloat using pgstattuple and system catalog queries
- Partition table maintenance, detaching old partitions, and archiving strategies
Module 9: Monitoring, Logging, and Alerting
- Configuring PostgreSQL logging: log levels, destinations, and log rotation
- Key pg_stat_* views for monitoring connections, tables, indexes, and I/O
- Detecting lock contention and long-running queries using pg_locks and pg_stat_activity
- Integrating PostgreSQL with Prometheus, Grafana, and pg_activity for real-time dashboards
- Setting up alerting thresholds for replication lag, connection counts, and vacuum failures
- Using pgBadger to analyse slow query logs and generate performance reports
Module 10: Security Hardening and Auditing
- Hardening the PostgreSQL installation: removing default roles and restricting superuser access
- Configuring pgAudit for granular audit logging of DDL, DML, and role changes
- Encrypting data at rest using filesystem-level encryption and pgcrypto
- Managing secrets and connection strings securely in application environments
- Compliance considerations: GDPR, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001 as they relate to database access logs
- Penetration testing concepts for databases: identifying and closing common attack vectors
Module 11: PostgreSQL Extensions and Advanced Features
- Introduction to the PostgreSQL extension ecosystem and the CREATE EXTENSION command
- PostGIS for spatial and geographic data storage and querying
- pg_partman for automated declarative table partitioning management
- pg_cron for scheduling SQL-level cron jobs within the database
- Full-text search with tsvector, tsquery, and GIN indexes
- Using Foreign Data Wrappers (FDW) to query external data sources from PostgreSQL
Module 12: PostgreSQL in Containers and Cloud Environments
- Running PostgreSQL in Docker: images, volume mounts, and networking considerations
- Orchestrating PostgreSQL with Kubernetes using StatefulSets and persistent volumes
- Managed PostgreSQL services: AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Comparing self-managed versus cloud-managed PostgreSQL: control, cost, and operational trade-offs
- Automating PostgreSQL provisioning with Terraform and Ansible
- Migrating on-premise PostgreSQL workloads to cloud environments with minimal downtime
Module 13: Automation, Scripting, and DBA Best Practices
- Writing shell scripts for common DBA tasks: backups, health checks, and space reporting
- Using psql meta-commands and scripting psql for batch administration
- Scheduling DBA jobs with pgAgent and cron: patterns and pitfalls
- Documentation standards: change logs, runbooks, and disaster recovery plans
- Capacity planning: tracking growth trends and planning storage and compute scaling
- Building a DBA team operational framework: on-call procedures, escalation paths, and knowledge transfer
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have a working knowledge of relational database concepts, including tables, queries, joins, and basic SQL syntax. Familiarity with a Linux or Unix-based command-line environment is essential, as the majority of hands-on labs are conducted on Linux servers. Prior exposure to any RDBMS platform—whether MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL itself—is beneficial and will help participants engage more fully with the course content from day one.
Training Methodology
- Guided laboratory sessions in live PostgreSQL environments where participants perform every configuration and administration task hands-on
- Step-by-step installation and hardening walkthroughs on Linux virtual machines, replicating real production server setups
- Query optimisation workshops using EXPLAIN ANALYZE output from realistic slow-query scenarios drawn from common enterprise applications
- Replication and failover simulation exercises where participants deliberately introduce failures and practice recovery procedures
- Security audit scenarios requiring participants to identify misconfigurations and apply the correct access controls and SSL settings
- Group troubleshooting challenges modelled on real DBA incident tickets, encouraging peer collaboration and structured problem-solving
- Case studies from sectors including banking, healthcare, and government illustrating how PostgreSQL is administered at scale
- Take-home DBA playbook templates covering backup schedules, monitoring checklists, autovacuum tuning guides, and incident response runbooks
Organisational Benefits
- Reduced dependence on expensive proprietary database licences by building internal PostgreSQL expertise
- Improved database uptime and reliability through proper high-availability and failover configurations
- Faster incident response and reduced mean time to recovery (MTTR) for database-related outages
- Stronger data security posture through implementation of PostgreSQL's advanced access control and auditing features
- Better application performance resulting from well-tuned queries, optimised indexes, and efficient resource utilisation
- Confident management of database growth, partitioning, and archiving strategies aligned with business needs
- Reduced vendor dependency by equipping internal staff to manage complex database environments independently
- Alignment with DevOps and cloud-first strategies through PostgreSQL deployment skills in Docker and cloud platforms
Where Is PostgreSQL Database Administration (DBA) Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Nairobi, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Kigali, Arusha, Abuja, Pretoria, Dubai, Kisumu, Nakuru, Naivasha, Lagos, Kampala, Accra, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Cape Town, Riyadh, Mombasa, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Johannesburg, South Africa |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 7,000 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,800 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
17 Oct 2026 – 6 Dec 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Arusha, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,200 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 5,600 |
| Pretoria, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 6,600 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 8,200 |
| Kisumu, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 240,000 |
| Nakuru, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 240,000 |
| Naivasha, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Lagos, Nigeria |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 4 Nov 2026 |
USD 5,000 |
| Kampala, Uganda |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 4 Nov 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
+237 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need prior PostgreSQL experience to attend this course?
Prior PostgreSQL-specific experience is not required, but participants should have a working knowledge of relational database concepts and basic SQL, along with comfort using a Linux command line. DBAs migrating from Oracle, MySQL, or SQL Server will find their existing knowledge highly transferable throughout the programme.
Will I receive a certificate upon completing the course?
Yes. Participants who attend the full 10-day programme and complete the required practical assessments will receive a TrainingComplex Certificate of Completion in PostgreSQL Database Administration. This certificate can be referenced on your CV and LinkedIn profile to demonstrate your professional DBA competency.
What software and tools do I need to bring or have installed?
For in-person sessions, all required software is pre-installed on lab machines provided by TrainingComplex. For online sessions, participants will be given access to a cloud-hosted lab environment, so only a stable internet connection and a modern web browser are needed — no local installation is required.
Is this course aligned with any PostgreSQL professional certification?
While this course is not a direct preparation programme for a specific vendor certification, the curriculum covers all major topic areas tested in certifications such as the EDB PostgreSQL Professional Certification and provides a stronger practical foundation than most certification prep courses alone.
Can this training be customised and delivered to a corporate team on-site?
Absolutely. TrainingComplex offers fully customised on-site delivery of this programme, tailored to your organisation's PostgreSQL version, infrastructure environment, and specific administration challenges. Contact our corporate training team to discuss a bespoke proposal and preferred delivery dates.
