PolarDB is a next-generation cloud native database independently developed by Alibaba. Based on a compute-storage decoupled architecture, it leverages software-hardware integration to provide database services with second-level elasticity, high performance, massive storage, and security and reliability. PolarDB for PostgreSQL Enterprise Edition is 100% compatible with multiple versions of native PostgreSQL, including PostgreSQL 11/14/15/16. Based on the cloud-native design philosophy, it integrates the stability, reliability, high performance, and scalability of commercial databases with the simplicity, openness, and rapid iteration of open source cloud databases.
PolarDB separates storage and compute. All compute nodes share a single copy of data, providing minute-level configuration upgrades and downgrades, second-level fault recovery, global data consistency, and free data backup and disaster recovery services.
Basic concepts
Region
The geographic location where a data center resides.
Zone
A zone is a physical area in a region with independent power supply and network facilities. The network latency between instances in the same zone is lower. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud global infrastructure.
Cluster
A cluster contains one primary node and multiple read-only nodes. A single PolarDB cluster can span zones but cannot span regions.
The ID of a cluster starts with
pc.
Node
A PolarDB cluster consists of multiple physical nodes. The nodes in each cluster are divided into two types. Nodes of each type are peers with identical specifications. The two types of nodes are primary nodes and read-only nodes.
The ID of a node starts with
pi.
Primary node
The PolarDB primary node is also called a read/write node. Each cluster contains only one primary node.
Read-only node
PolarDB read-only nodes. You can add up to 15 read-only nodes to an Enterprise Edition cluster and up to 7 read-only nodes to a Standard Edition cluster.
Console
Alibaba Cloud provides an easy-to-use web console that allows you to manage various Alibaba Cloud products and services, including PolarDB. In the console, you can create, connect to, and configure PolarDB databases.
PolarDB console URL: PolarDB console.