Hey everyone! We're beginning to implement Postgres, both on-premises and through AWS Aurora, for our applications. I understand that Postgres has a variety of extensions which enhance its features beyond the standard installation. However, I'd like some advice from experienced users here: What are the essential extensions that one should definitely include, and which ones are nice to have for a typical Postgres or AWS Postgres database?
3 Answers
If you're installing on-prem, consider the contrib package, which includes all the handy extensions developed by the Postgres team. Extensions like `moddatetime` for tracking last updated times and `pg_stat_statements` for monitoring query performance are quite useful, but not strict musts.
I think extensions depend a lot on your specific needs. For example, `pg_stat_statements` is great for performance tuning, while `pg_cron` is excellent for scheduling jobs. It helps to categorize these based on usage (e.g., 'must-haves' like `pg_stat_statements` vs. 'good-to-haves' like `tablefunc`). This way, your database team can standardize which extensions to plan for new installations.
It's tough to say there are 'must-have' extensions. The general rule is to only add what you need. Some users recommend keeping your setup as simple as possible for easier maintenance and security.
Thanks for the insight, Mishoniko! I completely agree that having a categorized list would streamline things for our infra team. I see you mentioned the usefulness of `pg_cron` and `auto_explain`. Could you suggest a few more that are commonly recognized as beneficial?