PostgreSQL is an open source database that can be installed on multiple platforms. There are two standard options to install PostgreSQL:
- Manual server installation on a machine
- Installation in a Docker container
Manual installation on an operating system can be a universal installation. You can find instructions for installation at this official PostgreSQL link: https://www.postgresql.org/download/.
For MacOS X and Windows, you get straightforward installers. For the varieties of Linux, the PostgreSQL website has nice documentation with detailed instructions. The only drawback with universal installation is you are bound to install/uninstall the PostgreSQL database whenever you change the version. In container-based systems, the execution environment is isolated from the host system. Docker is one such popular container system. In the upcoming subsection, we'll look at the installation of PostgreSQL inside a Docker container.