2Operations management

• 2.1Installation and the Database Cluster

  Learn initdb, the very first step in getting PostgreSQL running, and the concept and structure of the database cluster it creates. We also cover the two template databases automatically generated at cluster creation, template0 and template1, and how their roles differ.

• 2.2Standard Bundled Tools

  Learn the commands bundled standard with PostgreSQL: pg_ctl for starting, stopping, and reloading the server; createuser/dropuser for role management; createdb/dropdb for database management; the psql interactive terminal; pg_config for build information; pg_controldata for cluster control information; pg_isready for checking server liveness; pg_resetwal for resetting the WAL; and psql's meta-commands (\d, \l, \dt, \du, \c, \?, \h, \timing).

• 2.3Configuration Files

  Learn postgresql.conf, which governs overall server behavior (syntax, units, include; connection and authentication settings listen_addresses/port/max_connections; logging settings logging_collector/log_destination), pg_hba.conf, which defines per-client authentication methods (trust, md5, scram-sha-256, peer, and the significance of line order), and SET/SHOW for inspecting and changing values at runtime.

• 2.4Backup and Point-in-Time Recovery

  Learn PostgreSQL backup methods systematically: SQL-level pg_dump/pg_dumpall/pg_restore, filesystem-level backup, the concept of PITR (point-in-time recovery), WAL (write-ahead log) and WAL archiving (archive_command), the non-exclusive low-level backup approach, and data import/export via SQL COPY and psql's \copy.

• 2.5Basic Operations Management

  Learn server start/stop, CREATE/ALTER/DROP for database roles/users (ROLE/USER), VACUUM/ANALYZE for managing table bloat and statistics, autovacuum which automates them, system information functions that report server state, the metadata sources information_schema and pg_catalog (the system catalog), and GRANT/REVOKE for privilege management.