Topic for Consideration:
Matthew Wetmore from Secom International, will be hosting April's LAPUG meeting. Rather than attending a discussion, Matthew has prepared the facilities for all of us to get some hands on experience tuning some of the rarely used albeit important tuning parameters of PostgreSQL. This will be an experience that all of us can benefit from!

Preparatory Home Work:
Everyone that has had an opportunity to administer or create a PostgreSQL server is encouraged to bring their copy of the postgresql.conf file. We would like to center discussions around the changes that were made to this file from the original. Also we would like to discuss the impetus as to why the changes were made in the first place.

Also, two weeks (or so) before the LAPUG meeting, submit your postgresql.conf file to the LAPUG mailing list. If time allows, Matthew will drop the conf into a live system to produce daily pg_stats to see if the changes made any notable differences in overall performance prior to the meeting.

Time:
April 25, 7:00 pm

Location:
Secom International, Inc
9610 Bellanca, Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9610+Bellanca,+Ave.+Los...

Taking a head count:
Feel free to invite anyone that may be interested in coming to a PUG meeting. For those that are planning to attend please send an email to the LAPUG mailing list. (If food can be provided, it will help to know how much to bring.)

Job Postings:
http://pugs.postgresql.org/node/385

March's LAPUG Recap:
The LAPUG March meeting evolved in to a "Round Table" discussion. Each person shared very interesting experiences in how PostgreSQL was used in the development and use of sophisticated software applications. Some of these applications were for storing sound files, storing images, and other where developed as engineering tools.

The discussion also involved to uses of advanced data models such as: PostgreSQL's GIS extension, Temporal Database design, Generalization Hierarchies, Natural Keys versus Surrogate Keys, useful ways Graph Theory can be implemented into table designs to model network archtechtures. Just from this discussion alone, we have several very interesting topics that could be presented at a future LAPUG meeting.

Plans were also hatch to contact local universities and colleges to draw interest from local student and professors. Moo is taking the lead in the month of April to contact local schools in time for April's LAPUG "Hand's On" meeting.

Joining the LAPUG mailing list: http://mail.postgresql.org/mj/mj_wwwusr?domain=postgresql.org&func=lists...

LAPUG Meeting Schedule: http://pugs.postgresql.org/node/379

Matthew Wetmore from Secom International, Inc has kindly offered to host the next LAPUG meeting in April.

Focus of Meeting:
Rather than scheduling a speaker, this month all attendees will be getting some hands on training. To help Matthew get a feel for the best setup for this meeting, he would like to get feed back on the following questions:

Reflecting of the success of LAPUG's first Meeting at SCALE!
After successfully launching LAPUG during the Best of Friends (BOF) at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE), we are happy to announce the next LAPUG meeting.

Topics for discussion:
An official topic for discussion is still up open to anyone that would like offer a presentation on some aspect of PostgreSQL. However, in the time being, let's plan on meeting together for a group discussion on "How we are using PostgreSQL." As an alternative to this topic, feel free to discuss how you have made use of any other "flavors" of Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) or even why you are interested in RDBMS.

Time:
March 28, 7:00 pm

Location:
The City of Garden Grove
Youth Cafe / IT Training Room (Look for the building labeled "Youth Cafe")
11277 Garden Grove Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92840

Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=11277+Garden+Grove+Blvd...

Taking a head count:
Feel free to invite anyone that may be interested in coming to a PUG meeting. For those that are planning to attend please send an email to the LAPUG mailing list. (If food can be provided, it will help to know how much to bring.)

Next Meeting Location:
If anyone else has a facility that can be used for the LAPUG meeting please contact me so the we can make future arrangements!

Joining the LAPUG mailing list:
For those that haven't joined the mailing list and would like to, please follow the directions in the following link:
http://mail.postgresql.org/mj/mj_wwwusr?domain=postgresql.org&func=lists...

Proposals for future meetings:
If anyone has ideas for a presentation, please email LAPUG mailing list for discussion.

Interest was also expressed to use LAPUG meetings for events other than PostgreSQL presentations. One thought was to offer simple training sessions on how to manage certain PostgreSQL related tasks that have challenged newer users of Postgres. It is expected that there will be greater effort required for this kind of preparation, but if sufficient interested is expressed and if facilities are made available we can certainly entertain ideas for these kinds of meetings.

We are looking for to meeting all that can attend.

Saturday night, February 9, at 8pm, Richard Broersma and a crew of 15 launched LAPUG. Noel Proffitt, from the City of Garden Grove, gave a great talk on time-oriented (or temporal) database design.

He presented an example of a set of columns, rules and triggers for tracking both valid and transaction time. Noel also was kind enough to give a plug to the temporal data type that Jeff Davis and I presented last PGDay before OSCON. There was some suggestion that Jeff should submit the code for version 8.4.

We also showed off the new PUGs website, and talked a little about what had brought people to the BoF.

A few students from Cal Poly were there, along with many experienced administrators from around LA. Richard mentioned that his company was willing to host the group’s first meeting, and Noel offered to bring a projector. The group also asked about potential topics, so I am going to start a talks repository on the PUGs site. Ultimately, I’d love to have the authoritative and searchable repository of PostgreSQL talks for all PUGs to use as starting points and references.

I’m looking forward to great meetings from LAPUG in the future!

It's finally here!

After much planning, discussion, and encouragement, we are happy to announce the first meeting of the Los Angeles PostgreSQL User Group (LAPUG).

LAPUG provides a forum for Postgres enthusiasts in or around the greater Los Angeles area to meet others for discussions relating to PostgreSQL.

Things to expect:

• Meeting Fellow Elephant Lovers.

• Seeing ways that PostgreSQL is used for work, in education, or simply for fun.
• There will be opportunities for those interested to engage in public speaking.
• And when appropriate, a few pints over dinner might be involved. :o)

LAPUG Mailing List:

To join the LAPUG mailing list or to view the mailing list archives visit the following link:
http://archives.postgresql.org/lapug/

Schedule for the First LAPUG Meeting:

See the following link for the time and place for the first LAPUG meeting:
http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale6x/conference-info/social-events/bird...

We look forward to seeing you there! And feel free to invite your friends.

Recognizing those that greatly contributed to the founding of LAPUG:

It is important to recognize those that played an integral role in helping to get LAPUG off of the ground.

• Noel Proffitt:
  Noel has spent many hours developing the first LAPUG presentation on the topic of temporal databases implemented in PostgreSQL. The work he has done is certainly going to get LAPUG off to a good start.

• Selena Deckelmann:
  Selena is one of the key members of the Portland Oregon PostgreSQL User's Group. Because of the phenomenal success of the Portland PUG and because of her contributions to Postgres advocacy, she was recently nominated to become the PostgreSQL User Group Liaison. Following her lead and the direction that she offers has certainly played an integral role in getting this local chapter of PUG off the ground. And if this wasn't enough, she has also aided all of the PUGs around the world by arranging for PUG web pages and mailing lists.

• Joshua D. Drake:
  Joshua is the PostgreSQL liaison for Software in the Public Interest (SPI) and is a major contributor. It was his encouragement that got the ball rolling for starting LAPUG. In addition to this, he facilitated the arrangement to have the first LAPUG meeting at this year SCALE as part of the Best of Friends (Bof or Birds of a Feather) venue.