dbeaver

DBeaver

DBeaver is a universal, open-source database tool supporting relational, document, key-value, and analytical databases with an intuitive SQL editor and data browser.

When to Use

• Universal Multi-Platform Database Tool: Free, open-source database client supporting JDBC drivers for 100+ database engines.
• Cross-Database Data Migration & Export: Transferring tables and datasets across heterogeneous engines (e.g. MySQL to PostgreSQL).
• Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Generation: Visualizing relational schemas, primary keys, and foreign key relations.
• Automated Database Tasks & Script Execution: Executing batch SQL scripts via DBeaver CLI or Task Scheduler.

Quick Start

-- DBeaver supports executing SQL queries and parameterized templates:
SELECT
    table_schema,
    table_name,
    pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size(quote_ident(table_name))) as total_size
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'public'
ORDER BY pg_total_relation_size(quote_ident(table_name)) DESC;

Core Concepts

Configuring JDBC Connection with SSL & SSH Tunnel

Setting up encrypted database connectivity:

Driver: PostgreSQL
Host: db-internal.cluster.local
Port: 5432
Database: production_analytics
Authentication: Database Native (Username / Password)
Network -> SSH Tunnel:
  Host: bastion.cloud.internal:22
  User: ec2-user
  Private Key: ~/.ssh/bastion_key.pem
SSL Settings:
  Mode: verify-full
  Root Certificate: /etc/ssl/certs/rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem

Generating Visual Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERD)

Visualizing database schema topology:

1. Expand Database Navigator -> Right-click Schema (e.g. public).
2. Select View Diagram.
3. DBeaver renders entity boxes with columns, data types, and foreign key connector arrows.
4. Export diagram to SVG or PNG for architecture documentation.

Exporting Datasets with Custom Formatters

Exporting query results to SQL Inserts or JSON:

SELECT
    user_id,
    email,
    created_at
FROM users
WHERE is_active = true;

• Right click result grid -> Export Data -> Select target format (JSON, CSV, SQL INSERTs, Markdown).

Common Patterns

Mock Data Generation

Problem: Populate development database with realistic test datasets.
Solution: Configure DBeaver Mock Data Generator.

-- DBeaver mock data generation script
INSERT INTO customers (id, first_name, last_name, email, created_at)
SELECT
  gen_random_uuid(),
  'User_' || substr(md5(random()::text), 1, 6),
  'Test',
  'user_' || generate_series(1, 100) || '@example.com',
  NOW() - (random() * interval '30 days');

Best Practices

Do:

• Set connection type to Production (sets background color to red and enforces auto-commit warnings).
• Use SSH Tunneling with public key authentication for all cloud-hosted database connections.
• Configure dbeaver.ini to allocate sufficient JVM heap memory (-Xmx2048m) when querying large datasets.
• Use the Data Transfer wizard for moving schema tables and data across different database engines.

Don't:

• Leave Auto-Commit enabled on production databases; use Manual Commit mode.
• Commit dbeaver-data-sources.xml containing plain text credentials to version control.
• Fetch hundreds of thousands of rows at once; configure result set fetch size limits.

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Solution
Java heap space / OutOfMemoryError in DBeaver	Query fetching millions of rows into GUI memory buffer.	Enable "Use fetch size" (default 200) in SQL Editor settings.
Cannot connect to database: Access Denied	Driver credentials or network security group restricting client IP.	Check IP allowlist in cloud database and test connection.
Driver download failed: maven repository unreachable	Network proxy blocking access to Maven Central.	Configure HTTP proxy in DBeaver Window > Preferences > Connections > Network.

References

• DBeaver Documentation