Working with extensions and foreign data wrappers
To extend the functionality to your Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition DB cluster, you can install
and use various PostgreSQL extensions. For example, if your use case calls for intensive
data entry across very large tables, you can install the pg_partman
extension to partition your data and thus spread the workload.
Note
As of Aurora PostgreSQL 14.5, Aurora PostgreSQL supports Trusted Language Extensions for PostgreSQL. This feature is implemented as
the extension pg_tle, which you can add to your Aurora PostgreSQL. By using
this extension, developers can create their own PostgreSQL extensions in a safe
environment that simplifies the setup and configuration requirements, as well as much of
the preliminary testing for new extensions. For more information, see Working with Trusted Language Extensions for PostgreSQL.
In some cases, rather than installing an extension, you might add a specific module to the list
of shared_preload_libraries in your Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster's custom DB cluster parameter group.
Typically, the default DB cluster parameter group loads only the pg_stat_statements, but several
other modules are available to add to the list. For example, you can add scheduling capability by adding the
pg_cron module, as detailed in Scheduling maintenance with the PostgreSQL pg_cron extension. As another example, you can log query execution plans by
loading the auto_explain module. To learn more, see
Logging execution plans
of queries
An extension that provides access to external data is
more specifically known as a foreign data wrapper
(FDW). As one example, the oracle_fdw extension allows your Aurora PostgreSQL DB
cluster to work with Oracle databases.
You can also specify precisely which extensions can be installed on your Aurora PostgreSQL DB instance, by
listing them in the rds.allowed_extensions parameter. For more information, see Restricting installation of PostgreSQL extensions.
Following, you can find information about setting up and using some of the extensions, modules, and FDWs available for Aurora PostgreSQL. For simplicity's sake, these are all referred to as "extensions." You can find listings of extensions that you can use with the currently available Aurora PostgreSQL versions, see Extension versions for Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL in the Release Notes for Aurora PostgreSQL.
