Trusted Postgres Architect
Trusted Postgres Architect (TPA) is an orchestration tool that leverages Ansible to deploy Postgres clusters in line with EDB's recommendations. TPA encapsulates the best practices followed by EDB, informed by years of experience with deploying and supporting Postgres. These recommendations are applicable to both quick testbed setups and production environments.
TPA is built around a declarative configuration mechanism that allows you to describe a Postgres cluster, from its topology to the minutest details of its configuration. You can start by running tpaexec configure to generate an initial cluster configuration based on a few high-level choices, such as the Postgres version to install. The default configuration is ready to use as is, but you can edit it to suit your needs. The generated configuration is a text file, config.yml.
TPA in Action
Using this configuration, TPA can provision servers, for example, AWS EC2 instances or Docker containers, and any other resources needed to host the cluster. Alternatively, you can deploy to existing servers or VMs just by specifying connection details. TPA can also configure the operating system, for example, tweak kernel settings, create users and SSH keys, install packages, define systemd services, set up log rotation, and so on.
Extending TPA's Capabilities
TPA can install and configure Postgres and associated components, such as PGD, Barman, pgbouncer, repmgr, and various Postgres extensions. It can run automated tests on the cluster after deployment. TPA can also deploy future changes to your configuration, such as changing Postgres settings, installing and upgrading packages, adding new servers, and so on.
Conclusion
In conclusion, TPA is a comprehensive orchestration tool that simplifies the deployment and management of Postgres clusters. Its declarative configuration mechanism, coupled with its ability to provision servers and configure the operating system, makes it an invaluable tool for managing Postgres clusters. Whether you're setting up a quick testbed or managing a production environment, TPA can help you structure your projects and stay on top of management tasks with ease.