can postgresql scale to the likes of sql server? is it easy to tune?

Question

hoping someone has experience with both sql server and postgresql.

Between the two db's, which one is easier to scale? Is creating a read only db that mirrors the main db easier/harder than sql server?

Seeing as sql server can get $$, I really want to look into postgresql.

Also, are the db access libraries written well for an asp.net application?

(please no comments on: do you need the scale, worry about scaling later, and don't optimize until you have scaling issues...I just want to learn from a theoretical standpoint thanks!)

Answer 1

Currently, setting up a read-only replica is probably easier with SQL Server. There's a lot of work going on to get hot standby and streaming replication part of the next release, though.

Regarding scaling, people are using PostgreSQL with massive databases. Skype uses PostgreSQL, and Yahoo has something based on PostgreSQL with several petabyte in it.