Re: Why so slow?

OK, here is a much more detailed output. I still don't quite
understand why simple queries like counting the number of rows in a
table should take minutes to complete. Surely, any performance
enhancement to be had by vacuuming is closely related to indexes
which, in turn, are closely related to sorting and searching. A simple
count of 365590 does not involve indexes (or does it??) and should not take
minutes. Should I be forcing the
way postgresql plans my queries?

Here is my first attempt at vacuum that got nowhere and I had to
cancel it.

----------psql session start----------
vacuum verbose analyze job_log;
INFO: vacuuming "job_log"
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 10496152 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
28520 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 1.44s/3.49u sec elapsed 33.71 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_stop_filter" now contains 10496152 row versions in
71149 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
24990 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 2.11s/3.61u sec elapsed 115.69 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_start_filter" now contains 10496152 row versions in
57891 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
19769 index pages have been deleted, 19769 are currently reusable.
CPU 1.58s/3.44u sec elapsed 23.11 sec.
Cancel request sent
----------psql session finish----------

I thought that combining indexes would improve things and dropped the
3 separate ones above and created this one

----------psql session start----------
create index idx_job_log_filter on job_log(job_name,job_start,job_stop);

select count(*) from job_log;
count
--------
365590
(1 row)

explain analyse select count(*) from job_log;
QUERY PLAN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aggregate (cost=1382171.88..1382171.88 rows=1 width=0) (actual
time=207011.882..207011.883 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Seq Scan on job_log (cost=0.00..1381257.90 rows=365590 width=0)
(actual time=199879.510..206708.523 rows=365590 loops=1)
Total runtime: 207014.363 ms
(3 rows)
----------psql session finish----------

Then I tried another vacuum and decided to be very patient

----------psql session start----------
vacuum verbose analyze job_log;
INFO: vacuuming "job_log"
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 10496152 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
28520 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 1.39s/3.39u sec elapsed 24.19 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_log_filter" now contains 365590 row versions in 15396
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.59s/0.20u sec elapsed 10.28 sec.
INFO: "job_log": removed 2795915 row versions in 368091 pages
DETAIL: CPU 33.30s/30.11u sec elapsed 2736.54 sec.
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 7700230 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 2795922 index row versions were removed.
37786 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 2.76s/6.45u sec elapsed 152.14 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_log_filter" now contains 365590 row versions in 15396
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.52s/0.20u sec elapsed 7.75 sec.
INFO: "job_log": removed 2795922 row versions in 220706 pages
DETAIL: CPU 19.81s/17.92u sec elapsed 1615.95 sec.
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 4904317 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 2795913 index row versions were removed.
45807 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 2.22s/5.30u sec elapsed 129.02 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_log_filter" now contains 365590 row versions in 15396
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.50s/0.22u sec elapsed 7.61 sec.
INFO: "job_log": removed 2795913 row versions in 188139 pages
DETAIL: CPU 17.03s/15.37u sec elapsed 1369.45 sec.
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 2108405 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 2795912 index row versions were removed.
53672 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 2.13s/4.57u sec elapsed 122.74 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_log_filter" now contains 365590 row versions in 15396
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.53s/0.23u sec elapsed 8.24 sec.
INFO: "job_log": removed 2795912 row versions in 187724 pages
DETAIL: CPU 16.84s/15.22u sec elapsed 1367.50 sec.
INFO: index "job_log_id_pkey" now contains 365590 row versions in 59665
pages
DETAIL: 1742815 index row versions were removed.
57540 index pages have been deleted, 20000 are currently reusable.
CPU 1.38s/2.85u sec elapsed 76.52 sec.
INFO: index "idx_job_log_filter" now contains 365590 row versions in 15396
pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.54s/0.31u sec elapsed 7.99 sec.
INFO: "job_log": removed 1742815 row versions in 143096 pages
DETAIL: CPU 12.77s/11.75u sec elapsed 1046.10 sec.
INFO: "job_log": found 12926477 removable, 365590 nonremovable row versions
in 1377602 pages
DETAIL: 0 dead row versions cannot be removed yet.
There were 7894754 unused item pointers.
0 pages are entirely empty.
CPU 124.49s/117.57u sec elapsed 8888.80 sec.
INFO: vacuuming "pg_toast.pg_toast_17308"
INFO: index "pg_toast_17308_index" now contains 130 row versions in 12
pages
DETAIL: 2543 index row versions were removed.
9 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.00s/0.00u sec elapsed 0.11 sec.
INFO: "pg_toast_17308": removed 2543 row versions in 617 pages
DETAIL: CPU 0.04s/0.05u sec elapsed 4.85 sec.
INFO: "pg_toast_17308": found 2543 removable, 130 nonremovable row versions
in 650 pages
DETAIL: 0 dead row versions cannot be removed yet.
There were 0 unused item pointers.
0 pages are entirely empty.
CPU 0.06s/0.06u sec elapsed 5.28 sec.
INFO: analyzing "rshuser.job_log"
INFO: "job_log": scanned 3000 of 1377602 pages, containing 695 live rows
and 0 dead rows; 695 rows in sample, 319144 estimated total rows
VACUUM

explain analyse select count(*) from job_log;
QUERY PLAN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aggregate (cost=1382171.88..1382171.88 rows=1 width=0) (actual
time=207267.094..207267.095 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Seq Scan on job_log (cost=0.00..1381257.90 rows=365590 width=0)
(actual time=200156.539..206962.895 rows=365590 loops=1)
Total runtime: 207267.153 ms
(3 rows)

----------psql session finish----------

I also took snapshots of top output while I ran the above

----------top output start----------
Cpu(s): 0.7% us, 0.7% sy, 0.0% ni, 49.7% id, 48.5% wa, 0.5% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 1554788k total, 1538268k used, 16520k free, 6220k buffers
Swap: 1020024k total, 176k used, 1019848k free, 1404280k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
3368 postgres 18 0 37492 29m 11m D 2.7 1.9 3:00.54 postmaster

Cpu(s): 0.7% us, 0.8% sy, 0.0% ni, 49.7% id, 48.5% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 1554788k total, 1538580k used, 16208k free, 2872k buffers
Swap: 1020024k total, 176k used, 1019848k free, 1414908k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
3368 postgres 15 0 37492 29m 11m D 2.3 1.9 5:26.03 postmaster

Cpu(s): 0.5% us, 5.8% sy, 0.0% ni, 48.7% id, 44.4% wa, 0.5% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 1554788k total, 1538196k used, 16592k free, 1804k buffers
Swap: 1020024k total, 176k used, 1019848k free, 1444576k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
3368 postgres 15 0 20956 13m 11m D 11.0 0.9 6:25.10 postmaster
----------top output end----------

I know my database needs a major redesign. But I'm having a hard time
explaining the poor performance nevertheless.

Regards,

Bealach

>From: Andreas Kretschmer <akretschmer(at)spamfence(dot)net>
>To: pgsql-performance(at)postgresql(dot)org
>Subject: Re: [PERFORM] Why so slow?
>Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:28:23 +0200
>
>Bealach-na Bo <bealach_na_bo(at)hotmail(dot)com> schrieb:
> > The node table is tiny (2500 records). What I'm pulling my hair out
> > over is that ANY Query, even something as simple as select count(*)
> > form job_log takes of the order of tens of minutes to complete. Just
> > now I'm trying to run an explain analyze on the above query, but so
> > far, it's taken 35min! with no result and there is a postgres process at
> > the top of top
> >
> > What am I doing wrong??
>
>The 'explain analyse' don't return a result, but it returns the query
>plan and importance details, how PG works.
>
>That's why you should paste the query and the 'explain analyse' -
>output. This is very important.
>
>Anyway, do you periodical vacuum your DB? My guess: no, and that's why
>you have many dead rows.
>
>20:26 < akretschmer|home> ??vacuum
>20:26 < rtfm_please> For information about vacuum
>20:26 < rtfm_please> see
>http://developer.postgresql.org/~wieck/vacuum_cost/
>20:26 < rtfm_please> or
>http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-vacuum.html
>20:26 < rtfm_please> or http://www.varlena.com/varlena/GeneralBits/116.php
>
>20:27 < akretschmer|home> ??explain
>20:27 < rtfm_please> For information about explain
>20:27 < rtfm_please> see
>http://techdocs.postgresql.org/oscon2005/robert.treat/OSCON_Explaining_Explain_Public.sxi
>20:27 < rtfm_please> or http://www.gtsm.com/oscon2003/toc.html
>20:27 < rtfm_please> or
>http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-explain.html
>
>
>Read this links for more informations about vacuum and explain.
>
>
>HTH, Andreas
>--
>Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely
>unintentional side effect. (Linus Torvalds)
>"If I was god, I would recompile penguin with --enable-fly." (unknow)
>Kaufbach, Saxony, Germany, Europe. N 51.05082, E 13.56889
>
>---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
>TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to
> choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not
> match