Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL Features

MySQL | PostgreSQL

This page describes the major features and capabilities of Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL. Cloud SQL is also available for MySQL.

Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL

Features

Fully managed PostgreSQL 9.6 databases in the cloud.
Custom machine types with up to 208 GB of RAM and 32 CPUs.
Up to 10TB of storage available, with the ability to automatically increase storage size as needed.
Create and manage instances in the Google Cloud Platform Console.
Instances available in US, EU, or Asia.
Customer data encrypted on Google’s internal networks and in database tables, temporary files, and backups.
Support for secure external connections with the Cloud SQL Proxy or with the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
Import and export databases using SQL dump files.
Support for PostgreSQL client-server protocol and standard PostgreSQL connectors.
Automated and on-demand backups.
Integration with Stackdriver logging and monitoring.

Features not available for Beta

Because Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL is in Beta, some PostgreSQL features are not yet available:

Replication
High-availability configuration
Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
Import/export in CSV format

Supported extensions

Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL supports many PostgreSQL extensions. For a complete list, see PostgreSQL Extensions.

Supported procedural languages

Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL supports the PL/pgSQL SQL procedural language.

Supported languages

You can use Google Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL with App Engine applications running in the flexible environment that are written in Java, Python, PHP, Node.js, Go, and Ruby. You can also use Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL with external applications using the standard PostgreSQL client-server protocol.

How you can connect to Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL instances

You can connect to a Google Cloud SQL instance for PostgreSQL from:

A psql client Learn more.
Third-party tools that use the standard PostgreSQL client-server protocol.
External applications Learn more.
Google App Engine applications Learn more.
Applications running on Google Compute Engine Learn more.
Applications running on Google Container Engine Learn more.

Connecting from Google Cloud Functions or by using Private Google access is not supported.

Differences between Cloud SQL and standard PostgreSQL functionality

In general, the PostgreSQL functionality provided by a Cloud SQL instance is the same as the functionality provided by a locally-hosted PostgreSQL instance. However, there are a few differences between a standard PostgreSQL instance and a Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL instance.

Unsupported features

Any features that require SUPERUSER privileges

An exception to this rule is made for the CREATE EXTENSION statement, but only for supported extensions.
Custom background workers
The psql client in the Cloud Shell does not support operations that require a reconnection, such as connecting to a different database using the \c command.

Notable differences

There are a number of PostgreSQL options and parameters that are not enabled for editing as Cloud SQL flags.

If you need to update a flag that is not enabled for editing, start a thread on the Cloud SQL Discussion group.

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Last updated August 3, 2017.