When to Use Multiple Clusters, Databases, or Schemas?

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2012-04-23 09:52

I previously explained that Postgres allows multiple databases per
cluster. The outstanding question might be, when should I use multiple clusters, multiple databases, or multiple schemas? The following
table outlines the advantages of the various container types:

Feature Cluster Database Schema
Isolated Server Start/Stop      ✓    
Connection Control      ✓      ✓  
Private System Tables      ✓      ✓  
Private Plug-Ins      ✓      ✓  
Isolated Administration      ✓    
Shared Administration        ✓      ✓
Isolated Resource Usage      ✓    
Shared Resource Usage(1)        ✓      ✓
Data Isolation(2)      ✓      ✓  
Cross-Container Queries          ✓

(1) A large number of data containers increases the usefulness of resource sharing, e.g. shared_buffers.

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