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© 2026 Samba Siva Reddy. All rights reserved.

Blog

Writing on PostgreSQL internals, databases and systems, plus the occasional piece on books and personal growth.

Artificial Intelligence2

Series

PostgreSQL Internals

A series on understanding what is really happening under the hood of postgreSQL

Monthly Books Summary

A series on monthly summary of the books I read in that month

July 2026

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 9: Replication

PostgreSQL Internals

July 17, 2026·12 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 9: Replication

Final blog post of the PostgreSQL Internals series explaining about Replication and it's type i.e., Physical and Logical Replication.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 9: Replication

May 2026

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 8: Concurrency & Locking

PostgreSQL Internals

May 25, 2026·14 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 8: Concurrency & Locking

PostgreSQL locking deep dive: lock hierarchy, row-level locks in xmax, MultiXactId, deadlock detection, advisory locks, SKIP LOCKED queue, and pg_locks queries.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 8: Concurrency & Locking

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 7: VACUUM, Autovacuum & Bloat

PostgreSQL Internals

May 12, 2026·13 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 7: VACUUM, Autovacuum & Bloat

Inside PostgreSQL VACUUM: dead tuple collection, OldestXmin watermark, autovacuum triggers, XID freeze mechanics, bloat diagnosis, and pg_repack vs VACUUM FULL.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 7: VACUUM, Autovacuum & Bloat

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 6: Indexing Internals

PostgreSQL Internals

May 2, 2026·16 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 6: Indexing Internals

Deep dive into index internals: B-tree page format, split algorithm, GIN posting lists, BRIN range summaries, and how the planner picks between the Indexes.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 6: Indexing Internals

April 2026

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 5: Query pipeline

PostgreSQL Internals

April 21, 2026·16 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 5: Query pipeline

Trace a SQL query through PostgreSQL's full pipeline - from raw text through the parser, rewriter, planner, and executor with internals at each stage.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 5: Query pipeline

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 4: Write-Ahead Logging, Checkpoints and Crash Recovery

PostgreSQL Internals

April 12, 2026·14 min readPopular

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 4: Write-Ahead Logging, Checkpoints and Crash Recovery

Deep dive into PostgreSQL's Write-Ahead Logging - how WAL records are written, what checkpoints do, and how crash recovery uses REDO to restore state.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 4: Write-Ahead Logging, Checkpoints and Crash Recovery

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 3: MVCC & Transaction Isolation Levels

PostgreSQL Internals

April 6, 2026·10 min read

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 3: MVCC & Transaction Isolation Levels

Understand how PostgreSQL implements MVCC using xmin/xmax, snapshot isolation, and visibility rules - with all four transaction isolation levels explained.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 3: MVCC & Transaction Isolation Levels

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 2: Page Layout & Storage Internals

PostgreSQL Internals

April 1, 2026·13 min readPopular

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 2: Page Layout & Storage Internals

Explore how PostgreSQL stores data on disk - 8KB heap pages, item pointers, tuple headers, TOAST, and the free space map.

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 2: Page Layout & Storage Internals

March 2026

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 1: Process & Memory Architecture

PostgreSQL Internals

March 28, 2026·8 min readPopular

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 1: Process & Memory Architecture

Learn how PostgreSQL manages backend processes, the postmaster, shared buffers, and memory contexts. A deep dive into PG's process and memory model.

37712🔥5🧠5💡3👏4

PostgreSQL Internals - Module 1: Process & Memory Architecture

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Book Review

A few reviews on Books I really loved