Effects of dropping a large table

From: Devin Ivy <devinivy(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: pgsql-general(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Effects of dropping a large table
Date: 2023-07-18 17:58:27
Message-ID: CANi9rAN7vm7-+qAK6Sasa_S69y2OWZBqQ3Fksx3dMmRLBRDLBA@mail.gmail.com
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-general

Hi all,
I'm hoping to ensure I understand the implications of dropping a large
table and the space being reclaimed by the database and/or OS. We're using
pg v14.

This table is quite large with a primary key and one additional index—all
together these are on the order of 1TB. The primary key and index take-up
quite a bit more space than the table itself. Our hope is to discontinue
use of this table and then eventually drop it. However, the database is
under constant load and we'd like to avoid (or at least anticipate)
downtime or degraded performance. The database also replicates to a
standby instance.

So in short, what can we expect if we drop this table? Will the strategy
that pg takes to give that space back to the rest of the database and/or OS
have significant effects on availability or performance? Finally, are
there any other considerations that we should take into account? I
appreciate your time and input, thanks!

--
Devin Ivy

Responses

Browse pgsql-general by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Rob Sargent 2023-07-18 19:41:40 Re: Effects of dropping a large table
Previous Message Ron 2023-07-18 14:44:03 Re: Upgrade Failure