index usage

Hi,

I have a query which I think should be using an index all of the time but
postgres only uses the index part of the time. The index
(ticket_crm_map_crm_id_suppid) has the where clause column (crm_id) listed
first followed by the selected column (support_person_id). Wouldn't the
most efficient plan be to scan the index each time because the only columns
needed are in the index? Below is the table, 2 queries showing the
difference in plans, followed by the record distribution of ticket_crm_map.
I first did a 'vacuum analyze' to update the statistics.

Thanks,
Brad

athenapost=> \d ticket_crm_map
Table "public.ticket_crm_map"
Column | Type |
Modifiers
------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------------
-----------------------
tcrm_map_id | integer | not null
ticket_id | integer | not null
crm_id | integer | not null
support_person_id | integer | not null
escalated_to_person_id | integer | not null
status | character varying(50) | not null default
'Open'::character varying
close_date | timestamp without time zone |
updated_date | timestamp without time zone |
updated_by | character varying(255) |
created_date | timestamp without time zone |
created_by | character varying(255) |
additional_info | text |
subject | character varying(255) |
Indexes:
"ticket_crm_map_pkey" primary key, btree (tcrm_map_id)
"ticket_crm_map_crm_id_key" unique, btree (crm_id, ticket_id)
"ticket_crm_map_crm_id_suppid" btree (crm_id, support_person_id)
"ticket_crm_map_status" btree (status)
"ticket_crm_map_ticket_id" btree (ticket_id)
Foreign-key constraints:
"$1" FOREIGN KEY (ticket_id) REFERENCES ticket(ticket_id)
"$2" FOREIGN KEY (crm_id) REFERENCES company_crm(crm_id)
"$3" FOREIGN KEY (support_person_id) REFERENCES person(person_id)
"$4" FOREIGN KEY (escalated_to_person_id) REFERENCES person(person_id)
"$5" FOREIGN KEY (status) REFERENCES ticket_status(status)

athenapost=> explain analyze select distinct support_person_id from
ticket_crm_map where crm_id = 7;

QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
Unique (cost=1262.99..1265.27 rows=1 width=4) (actual time=15.335..18.245
rows=20 loops=1)
-> Sort (cost=1262.99..1264.13 rows=456 width=4) (actual
time=15.332..16.605 rows=2275 loops=1)
Sort Key: support_person_id
-> Index Scan using ticket_crm_map_crm_id_suppid on ticket_crm_map
(cost=0.00..1242.85 rows=456 width=4) (actual time=0.055..11.281 rows=2275
loops=1)
Index Cond: (crm_id = 7)
Total runtime: 18.553 ms
(6 rows)

Time: 20.598 ms
athenapost=> explain analyze select distinct support_person_id from
ticket_crm_map where crm_id = 1;
QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Unique (cost=10911.12..11349.26 rows=32 width=4) (actual
time=659.102..791.517 rows=24 loops=1)
-> Sort (cost=10911.12..11130.19 rows=87628 width=4) (actual
time=659.090..713.285 rows=93889 loops=1)
Sort Key: support_person_id
-> Seq Scan on ticket_crm_map (cost=0.00..3717.25 rows=87628
width=4) (actual time=0.027..359.299 rows=93889 loops=1)
Filter: (crm_id = 1)
Total runtime: 814.601 ms
(6 rows)

Time: 817.095 ms
athenapost=> select count(*), crm_id from ticket_crm_map group by crm_id;
count | crm_id
-------+--------
2554 | 63
129 | 25
17 | 24
110 | 23
74 | 22
69 | 21
2 | 20
53 | 82
10 | 17
16 | 81
46637 | 16
14 | 80
2 | 15
1062 | 79
87 | 78
93 | 77
60 | 44
363 | 76
225 | 10
4 | 74
83 | 9
27 | 73
182 | 8
2275 | 7
15 | 71
554 | 6
44 | 70
631 | 5
37 | 4
190 | 3
112 | 2
93889 | 1
(32 rows)

Time: 436.697 ms