Data Bene

CERN PGDay: an annual PostgreSQL event in Geneva, Switzerland

The logos for CERN PGDay 2026 and Data Bene shown.

If you’re located near Western Switzerland and the Geneva region (or you just want to visit!), you might find it well worth your time to attend CERN PGDay 2026. It’s an annual gathering (this year occurring on February 6th, 2026) for anyone interested in learning more about PostgreSQL that takes place at CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.

If you find the subject of particle physics interesting, you may want to visit anyways! They offer free access to many activities that run from Tuesday to Sunday; you can view the full programme here.

Here, you’ll be able to attend a single track of seven English-language sessions, with a social gathering afterwards to enjoy CERN while continuing to connect with the rest of the attendees.

This year, there’ll be:

  1. A new PostgreSQL backend for CERN Tape Archive scheduling for LHC Run 4 - Konstantina Skovola, CERN
  2. DCS Data Tools - PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB Implementation for ATLAS DCS Time-Series Data - Dimitrios Matakias, Paris Moschovakos, CERN
  3. Operational hazards of managing PostgreSQL DBs over 100TB - Teresa Lopes, Adyen
  4. Vacuuming Large Tables: How Recent Postgres Changes Further Enable Mission Critical Workloads - Robert Treat, AWS
  5. The (very practical) Postgres Sharding Landscape - Álvaro Hernández, OnGres
  6. The Alchemy of Shared Buffers: Balancing Concurrency and Performance - Josef Machytka, credativ
  7. When Kafka Met Elephant: A Love Story about Fast Ingestion - Barbora Linhartova, Jan Suchanek, Baremon

The first talk of the day is of particular note…

The CERN Tape Archive (CTA) stores over one exabyte of scientific data. To orchestrate storage operations (archival) and access operations (retrieval), the CTA Scheduler coordinates concurrent data movements across hundreds of tape servers, relying on a Scheduler Database (Scheduler DB) to manage the metadata of the in-flight requests. The existing objectstore-based design of the CTA Scheduler DB is a complex transactional management system. This talk presents the development of a new PostgreSQL-based backend for the CTA Scheduler as an off-the-shelf solution which simplifies implementation and is expected to significantly reduce future development and operational costs. We describe the implementation of all main CTA workflows and explain how PostgreSQL addresses the limitations of the objectstore-based system, providing the foundation for the tenfold increase in data throughput expected during LHC Run 4.

(link to talk description)

In a world where ever larger amounts of digital information must be stored, learning more about how CERN manages over one exabyte of scientific data is sure to be an interesting experience.

Geneva is home to many international organizations across the public, private, and scientific sectors. If you’d like to explore the topic of PostgreSQL in more depth through engaging in discussion or attending sessions, it’s a fun location to meet and learn. Thinking of coming by? You can register until February 1st.

Last year’s session recordings can be viewed by visiting the 2025 schedule and selecting the paperclip symbol next to the talk you’re interested in.

Stop by and see us in the catering area; we’re proud to be sponsoring the event again this year and will have a table or booth where you can visit. We’d love to talk about what PostgreSQL and open-source innovation, development, & whatever questions you have.