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Aravin
Aravin

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View Cluster Details

#postgres #cli #cloud #database

This is Part 3 of the BigAnimal in PostgreSQL series.

👉 Previous: How to Configure BigAnimal
👉 Next: Access Model

1. To View Cluster details

biganimal cluster show

Purpose:
Displays detailed information about all clusters or a specific cluster running in your EDB BigAnimal environment.

  1. Lists all PostgreSQL clusters you have access to under your BigAnimal account.
  2. Shows summary details like:
  • Cluster ID
  • Name
  • Status (e.g., Running, Provisioning, Stopped)
  • PostgreSQL version
  • Region / Cloud provider
  • High Availability mode (Single, HA, DR)
  • Node size / instance type
  • Number of nodes
  • VPC or Network details
  • Creation time 
ID              NAME          STATUS     VERSION   REGION     HA MODE
p-1234567890    prod-db       running    15.4      aws/us-east-1  HA
p-0987654321    staging-db    stopped    16.2      azure/eastus   Single
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You can also add flags such as:
biganimal cluster show --id p-1234567890
to view only one cluster’s details.

2. Displays connection details for a specific PostgreSQL cluster

biganimal cluster show-connection --id p-23456789

  1. The --id option specifies which cluster you want connection details for.
  2. The command shows:
  • Primary endpoint (hostname or IP)
  • Read-only endpoint (for replicas)
  • Port number
  • Database name
  • Usernames (like postgres or biganimal_user)
  • Connection string (URI format) — both psql and pgAdmin compatible
  • SSL mode and certificate details
  • Load balancer endpoint (if HA enabled) 
Cluster ID: p-23456789
Cluster Name: prod-db
Connection Details:
  Hostname: hostname
  Port: 5432
  Database: arcflow
  User: user_name
  SSL Mode: require
  Connection String:
    psql "host=hostname/ip port=5432 dbname=arcflow user=user_name sslmode=require"
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DSN (Data Source Name)
A DSN (Data Source Name) is a string that defines how to connect to a database — it contains all the necessary connection parameters (like hostname, port, username, password, and database name) in one compact format.

In PostgreSQL (and EDB BigAnimal), the DSN is commonly used by tools like psql, pgAdmin, or applications to establish a connection without having to specify each option separately.

ODBC (Open Database Connectivity)

ODBC is a universal interface for connecting applications to databases — mainly used by:
Windows applications (like Excel, Power BI, Access)
C/C++ and .NET programs

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)
JDBC is the Java standard API for database connectivity.
It uses a JDBC URL, which is similar to a DSN but Java-specific.

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