In this talk we demonstrate some techniques that a PostgreSQL DBA can use to solve recurring problems, in the simple format of a cooking recipe.

We will consider problems such as: changing your password securely, i.e.  without leaving traces of the new password around; quickly
estimating the number of rows in a table, sensibly balancing speed vs accuracy; checking which parameters have a non-default setting, so you will avoid surprises when replaying that administration script; carefully removing unwanted indexes, because it is much easier to destroy than to rebuild.