PgBouncer, Pgpool-II and others: A proxy for PostgreSQL 🐘

2025-10-30

A PostgreSQL proxy or connection pooler is an intermediary application that sits between your client applications and one or more PostgreSQL servers. It speaks the PostgreSQL network protocol, which allows any standard client (for example, your web server or an application in Java/Python/Go) to connect to the proxy believing it is talking directly to a PostgreSQL server.

Unlike MySQL, where proxies are often used for read/write splitting (R/W split) or caching, in the PostgreSQL world the main task of a proxy is efficient connection management.

MySQL Proxy: A Database Intermediary 🛠️

2025-10-28

MySQL Proxy is a proxy application that sits between client applications (for example, your web server) and one or more MySQL servers. It uses the MySQL Network Protocol, which allows any standard MySQL-compatible client to connect to the proxy without changes, believing it is talking directly to a MySQL server.

How MySQL Proxy Works

In its basic configuration the proxy simply forwards requests from the client to the MySQL server and returns responses back.
However the key feature of MySQL Proxy and its counterparts is monitoring, analyzing, and modifying the passing traffic: