Thread

  1. query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebäck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> — 2005-02-05T18:21:17Z

    Hi,
    
    here is a query which produces over 1G temp file in pgsql_tmp. This
    is on pgsql 7.4.2, RHEL 3.0, XEON MP machine with 32GB RAM, 300MB
    sort_mem and 320MB shared_mem.
    
    Below is the query and results for EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE. All
    tables have been analyzed before.
    
    Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    there are a lot of rows.
    
    Thanks in advance,
    
    Dirk
    
    EXPLAIN 
    SELECT DISTINCT ON (ft.val_9, ft.created, ft.flatid) ft.docstart, ft.docindex, ft.flatobj, bi.oid, bi.en
    FROM bi, en, df AS ft, es
    WHERE bi.rc=130170467
    AND bi.en=ft.en
    AND bi.co=117305223
    AND bi.hide=FALSE
    AND ft.en=en.oid
    AND es.en=bi.en
    AND es.co=bi.co
    AND es.spec=122293729
    AND (ft.val_2='DG' OR ft.val_2='SK')
    AND ft.docstart=1
    ORDER BY ft.val_9 ASC, ft.created DESC
    LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 0;
    
     Limit  (cost=8346.75..8346.78 rows=3 width=1361)
       ->  Unique  (cost=8346.75..8346.78 rows=3 width=1361)
             ->  Sort  (cost=8346.75..8346.76 rows=3 width=1361)
                   Sort Key: ft.val_9, ft.created, ft.flatid
                   ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361)
                         ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5757.17 rows=17 width=51)
                               ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5606.39 rows=30 width=42)
                                     ->  Index Scan using es_sc_index on es  (cost=0.00..847.71 rows=301 width=8)
                                           Index Cond: ((spec = 122293729) AND (co = 117305223::oid))
                                     ->  Index Scan using bi_env_index on bi  (cost=0.00..15.80 rows=1 width=42)
                                           Index Cond: ("outer".en = bi.en)
                                           Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid) AND (hide = false))
                               ->  Index Scan using en_oid_index on en  (cost=0.00..5.01 rows=1 width=9)
                                     Index Cond: ("outer".en = en.oid)
                         ->  Index Scan using df_en on df ft  (cost=0.00..151.71 rows=49 width=1322)
                               Index Cond: ("outer".en = ft.en)
                               Filter: (((val_2 = 'DG'::text) OR (val_2 = 'SK'::text)) AND (docstart = 1))
    (17 rows)
    
    
    --------------
    
    EXPLAIN ANALYZE gives:
    
    
     Limit  (cost=8346.75..8346.78 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=75357.465..75679.964 rows=1000 loops=1)
       ->  Unique  (cost=8346.75..8346.78 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=75357.459..75675.371 rows=1000 loops=1)
             ->  Sort  (cost=8346.75..8346.76 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=75357.448..75499.263 rows=22439 loops=1)
                   Sort Key: ft.val_9, ft.created, ft.flatid
                   ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=34.104..18016.005 rows=703677 loops=1)
                         ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5757.17 rows=17 width=51) (actual time=0.467..3216.342 rows=48563 loops=1)
                               ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5606.39 rows=30 width=42) (actual time=0.381..1677.014 rows=48563 loops=1)
                                     ->  Index Scan using es_sc_index on es  (cost=0.00..847.71 rows=301 width=8) (actual time=0.184..46.519 rows=5863 loops=1)
                                           Index Cond: ((spec = 122293729) AND (co = 117305223::oid))
                                     ->  Index Scan using bi_env_index on bi  (cost=0.00..15.80 rows=1 width=42) (actual time=0.052..0.218 rows=8 loops=5863)
                                           Index Cond: ("outer".en = bi.en)
                                           Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid) AND (hide = false))
                               ->  Index Scan using en_oid_index on en  (cost=0.00..5.01 rows=1 width=9) (actual time=0.015..0.019 rows=1 loops=48563)
                                     Index Cond: ("outer".en = en.oid)
                         ->  Index Scan using df_en on df ft  (cost=0.00..151.71 rows=49 width=1322) (actual time=0.038..0.148 rows=14 loops=48563)
                               Index Cond: ("outer".en = ft.en)
                               Filter: (((val_2 = 'DG'::text) OR (val_2 = 'SK'::text)) AND (docstart = 1))
     Total runtime: 81782.052 ms
    (18 rows)
    
    
    
  2. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    John Arbash Meinel <john@arbash-meinel.com> — 2005-02-05T19:26:09Z

    Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    
    >Hi,
    >
    >here is a query which produces over 1G temp file in pgsql_tmp. This
    >is on pgsql 7.4.2, RHEL 3.0, XEON MP machine with 32GB RAM, 300MB
    >sort_mem and 320MB shared_mem.
    >
    >Below is the query and results for EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE. All
    >tables have been analyzed before.
    >
    >Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    >there are a lot of rows.
    >
    >Thanks in advance,
    >
    >Dirk
    >  
    >
    ...
    
    >               ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=34.104..18016.005 rows=703677 loops=1)
    >  
    >
    Well, there is this particular query where it thinks there will only be 
    3 rows, but in fact there are 703,677 of them. And the previous line:
    
    >         ->  Sort  (cost=8346.75..8346.76 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=75357.448..75499.263 rows=22439 loops=1)
    >  
    >
    Seem to indicate that after sorting you still have 22,439 rows, which 
    then gets pared down again down to 1000.
    
    I'm assuming that the sort you are trying to do is extremely expensive. 
    You are sorting 700k rows, which takes up too much memory (1GB), which 
    forces it to create a temporary table, and write it out to disk.
    
    I didn't analyze it a lot, but you might get a lot better performance 
    from doing a subselect, rather than the query you wrote.
    
    You are joining 4 tables (bi, en, df AS ft, es) I don't know which 
    tables are what size. In the end, though, you don't really care about 
    the en table or es tables (they aren't in your output).
    
    So maybe one of you subselects could be:
    
    where bi.en = (select en from es where es.co = bi.co and es.spec=122293729);
    
    I'm pretty sure the reason you need 1GB of temp space is because at one 
    point you have 700k rows. Is it possible to rewrite the query so that it 
    does more filtering earlier? Your distinct criteria seems to filter it 
    down to 20k rows. So maybe it's possible to do some sort of a distinct 
    in part of the subselect, before you start joining against other tables.
    
    If you have that much redundancy, you might also need to think of doing 
    a different normalization.
    
    Just some thoughts.
    
    Also, I thought using the "oid" column wasn't really recommended, since 
    in *high* volume databases they aren't even guaranteed to be unique. (I 
    think it is a 32-bit number that rolls over.) Also on a database dump 
    and restore, they don't stay the same, unless you take a lot of extra 
    care that they are included in both the dump and the restore. I believe 
    it is better to create your own "id" per table (say SERIAL or BIGSERIAL).
    
    John
    =:->
    
    
  3. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-05T19:46:20Z

    Hi John,
    
    thanks very much for your analysis. I'll probably need to reorganize 
    some things.
    
    Regards,
    
    Dirk
    
    John A Meinel wrote:
    
    > Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    >
    >> Hi,
    >>
    >> here is a query which produces over 1G temp file in pgsql_tmp. This
    >> is on pgsql 7.4.2, RHEL 3.0, XEON MP machine with 32GB RAM, 300MB
    >> sort_mem and 320MB shared_mem.
    >>
    >> Below is the query and results for EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE. All
    >> tables have been analyzed before.
    >>
    >> Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    >> there are a lot of rows.
    >>
    >> Thanks in advance,
    >>
    >> Dirk
    >>  
    >>
    > ...
    >
    >>               ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361) 
    >> (actual time=34.104..18016.005 rows=703677 loops=1)
    >>  
    >>
    > Well, there is this particular query where it thinks there will only 
    > be 3 rows, but in fact there are 703,677 of them. And the previous line:
    >
    >>         ->  Sort  (cost=8346.75..8346.76 rows=3 width=1361) (actual 
    >> time=75357.448..75499.263 rows=22439 loops=1)
    >>  
    >>
    > Seem to indicate that after sorting you still have 22,439 rows, which 
    > then gets pared down again down to 1000.
    >
    > I'm assuming that the sort you are trying to do is extremely 
    > expensive. You are sorting 700k rows, which takes up too much memory 
    > (1GB), which forces it to create a temporary table, and write it out 
    > to disk.
    >
    > I didn't analyze it a lot, but you might get a lot better performance 
    > from doing a subselect, rather than the query you wrote.
    >
    > You are joining 4 tables (bi, en, df AS ft, es) I don't know which 
    > tables are what size. In the end, though, you don't really care about 
    > the en table or es tables (they aren't in your output).
    >
    > So maybe one of you subselects could be:
    >
    > where bi.en = (select en from es where es.co = bi.co and 
    > es.spec=122293729);
    >
    > I'm pretty sure the reason you need 1GB of temp space is because at 
    > one point you have 700k rows. Is it possible to rewrite the query so 
    > that it does more filtering earlier? Your distinct criteria seems to 
    > filter it down to 20k rows. So maybe it's possible to do some sort of 
    > a distinct in part of the subselect, before you start joining against 
    > other tables.
    >
    > If you have that much redundancy, you might also need to think of 
    > doing a different normalization.
    >
    > Just some thoughts.
    >
    > Also, I thought using the "oid" column wasn't really recommended, 
    > since in *high* volume databases they aren't even guaranteed to be 
    > unique. (I think it is a 32-bit number that rolls over.) Also on a 
    > database dump and restore, they don't stay the same, unless you take a 
    > lot of extra care that they are included in both the dump and the 
    > restore. I believe it is better to create your own "id" per table (say 
    > SERIAL or BIGSERIAL).
    >
    > John
    > =:->
    >
    
    
    
  4. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> — 2005-02-05T20:22:52Z

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> writes:
    
    > Below is the query and results for EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE. All
    > tables have been analyzed before.
    
    Really? A lot of the estimates are very far off. If you really just analyzed
    these tables immediately prior to the query then perhaps you should try
    raising the statistics target on spec and co. Or is the problem that there's a
    correlation between those two columns?
    
    >                ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=34.104..18016.005 rows=703677 loops=1)
    >                      ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5757.17 rows=17 width=51) (actual time=0.467..3216.342 rows=48563 loops=1)
    >                            ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5606.39 rows=30 width=42) (actual time=0.381..1677.014 rows=48563 loops=1)
    >                                  ->  Index Scan using es_sc_index on es  (cost=0.00..847.71 rows=301 width=8) (actual time=0.184..46.519 rows=5863 loops=1)
    >                                        Index Cond: ((spec = 122293729) AND (co = 117305223::oid))
    
    The root of your problem,. The optimizer is off by a factor of 20. It thinks
    these two columns are much more selective than they are.
    
    >                                  ->  Index Scan using bi_env_index on bi  (cost=0.00..15.80 rows=1 width=42) (actual time=0.052..0.218 rows=8 loops=5863)
    >                                        Index Cond: ("outer".en = bi.en)
    >                                        Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid) AND (hide = false))
    
    It also thinks these three columns are much more selective than they are.
    
    How accurate are its estimates if you just do these?
    
    explain analyze select * from es where spec = 122293729
    explain analyze select * from es where co = 117305223::oid
    explain analyze select * from bi where rc = 130170467::oid
    explain analyze select * from bi where co = 117305223
    explain analyze select * from bi where hide = false
    
    If they're individually accurate then you've run into the familiar problem of
    needing cross-column statistics. If they're individually inaccurate then you
    should try raising the targets on those columns with:
    
    ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
        ALTER [ COLUMN ] column SET STATISTICS integer
    
    and reanalyzing.
    
    
    Dirk Lutzebaeck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> writes:
    
    > Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    > there are a lot of rows.
    
    Well that I can't explain. 22k rows of width 1361 doesn't sound so big to me
    either. The temporary table does need to store three copies of the records at
    a given time, but still it sounds like an awful lot.
    
    
    -- 
    greg
    
    
    
  5. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2005-02-05T22:41:24Z

    Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
    > Dirk Lutzebaeck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> writes:
    >> Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    >> there are a lot of rows.
    
    > Well that I can't explain. 22k rows of width 1361 doesn't sound so big to me
    > either.
    
    It was 700k rows to sort, not 22k.  The Unique/Limit superstructure
    only demanded 22k rows out from the sort, but we still had to sort 'em
    all to figure out which ones were the first 22k.
    
    > The temporary table does need to store three copies of the records at
    > a given time, but still it sounds like an awful lot.
    
    Huh?
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
  6. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> — 2005-02-05T22:50:13Z

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> writes:
    
    > It was 700k rows to sort, not 22k.  
    
    Oops, missed that.
    
    > > The temporary table does need to store three copies of the records at
    > > a given time, but still it sounds like an awful lot.
    > 
    > Huh?
    
    Am I wrong? I thought the disk sort algorithm was the polyphase tape sort from
    Knuth which is always reading two tapes and writing to a third.
    
    -- 
    greg
    
    
    
  7. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2005-02-05T23:01:03Z

    Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
    > Am I wrong? I thought the disk sort algorithm was the polyphase tape sort from
    > Knuth which is always reading two tapes and writing to a third.
    
    It is a polyphase sort, but we recycle the input "tapes" as fast as we
    use them, so that the maximum disk space usage is about as much as the
    data volume to sort.
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
  8. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-06T13:27:17Z

    Greg,
    
    Thanks for your analysis. But I dont get any better after bumping 
    STATISTICS target from 10 to 200.
    explain analyze shows that the optimizer is still way off estimating the 
    rows. Is this normal? It still produces a 1 GB temp file.
    I simplified the query a bit, now only two tables are involved (bi, df). 
    I also vacuumed.
    
    
    alter table bi alter rc set statistics 200;
    alter table bi alter hide set statistics 200;
    alter table bi alter co set statistics 200;
    alter table bi alter en set statistics 200;
    analyze bi;
    
    alter table df alter en set statistics 200;
    alter table df alter val_2 set statistics 200;
    analyze df;
    
    EXPLAIN ANALYZE
    SELECT DISTINCT ON (df.val_9, df.created, df.flatid) df.docindex, 
    df.flatobj, bi.oid, bi.en
    FROM bi,df
    WHERE bi.rc=130170467
    AND bi.en=df.en
    AND bi.co=117305223
    AND bi.hide=FALSE
    AND (df.val_2='DG' OR df.val_2='SK')
    AND df.docstart=1
    ORDER BY df.val_9 ASC, df.created DESC
    LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 0
    ;
    
    Limit (cost=82470.09..82480.09 rows=1000 width=646) (actual 
    time=71768.685..72084.622 rows=1000 loops=1)
    -> Unique (cost=82470.09..82643.71 rows=17362 width=646) (actual 
    time=71768.679..72079.987 rows=1000 loops=1)
    -> Sort (cost=82470.09..82513.50 rows=17362 width=646) (actual 
    time=71768.668..71905.138 rows=22439 loops=1)
    Sort Key: df.val_9, df.created, df.flatid
    -> Merge Join (cost=80422.51..81247.49 rows=17362 width=646) (actual 
    time=7657.872..18486.551 rows=703677 loops=1)
    Merge Cond: ("outer".en = "inner".en)
    -> Sort (cost=55086.74..55340.18 rows=101378 width=8) (actual 
    time=5606.137..6672.630 rows=471871 loops=1)
    Sort Key: bi.en
    -> Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..46657.47 rows=101378 width=8) (actual 
    time=0.178..3715.109 rows=472320 loops=1)
    Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid) AND (hide = false))
    -> Sort (cost=25335.77..25408.23 rows=28982 width=642) (actual 
    time=2048.039..3677.140 rows=706482 loops=1)
    Sort Key: df.en
    -> Seq Scan on df (cost=0.00..23187.79 rows=28982 width=642) (actual 
    time=0.112..1546.580 rows=71978 loops=1)
    Filter: (((val_2 = 'DG'::text) OR (val_2 = 'SK'::text)) AND (docstart = 1))
    
    
    explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467;
    QUERY PLAN
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=190960 width=53) (actual 
    time=0.157..3066.028 rows=513724 loops=1)
    Filter: (rc = 130170467::oid)
    Total runtime: 4208.663 ms
    (3 rows)
    
    
    explain analyze select * from bi where co=117305223;
    QUERY PLAN
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=603988 width=53) (actual 
    time=0.021..3692.238 rows=945487 loops=1)
    Filter: (co = 117305223::oid)
    Total runtime: 5786.268 ms
    (3 rows)
    
    
    
    
    
    Greg Stark wrote:
    
    >Dirk Lutzebaeck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> writes:
    >
    >  
    >
    >>Below is the query and results for EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN ANALYZE. All
    >>tables have been analyzed before.
    >>    
    >>
    >
    >Really? A lot of the estimates are very far off. If you really just analyzed
    >these tables immediately prior to the query then perhaps you should try
    >raising the statistics target on spec and co. Or is the problem that there's a
    >correlation between those two columns?
    >
    >  
    >
    >>               ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..8346.73 rows=3 width=1361) (actual time=34.104..18016.005 rows=703677 loops=1)
    >>                     ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5757.17 rows=17 width=51) (actual time=0.467..3216.342 rows=48563 loops=1)
    >>                           ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..5606.39 rows=30 width=42) (actual time=0.381..1677.014 rows=48563 loops=1)
    >>                                 ->  Index Scan using es_sc_index on es  (cost=0.00..847.71 rows=301 width=8) (actual time=0.184..46.519 rows=5863 loops=1)
    >>                                       Index Cond: ((spec = 122293729) AND (co = 117305223::oid))
    >>    
    >>
    >
    >The root of your problem,. The optimizer is off by a factor of 20. It thinks
    >these two columns are much more selective than they are.
    >
    >  
    >
    >>                                 ->  Index Scan using bi_env_index on bi  (cost=0.00..15.80 rows=1 width=42) (actual time=0.052..0.218 rows=8 loops=5863)
    >>                                       Index Cond: ("outer".en = bi.en)
    >>                                       Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid) AND (hide = false))
    >>    
    >>
    >
    >It also thinks these three columns are much more selective than they are.
    >
    >How accurate are its estimates if you just do these?
    >
    >explain analyze select * from es where spec = 122293729
    >explain analyze select * from es where co = 117305223::oid
    >explain analyze select * from bi where rc = 130170467::oid
    >explain analyze select * from bi where co = 117305223
    >explain analyze select * from bi where hide = false
    >
    >If they're individually accurate then you've run into the familiar problem of
    >needing cross-column statistics. If they're individually inaccurate then you
    >should try raising the targets on those columns with:
    >
    >ALTER TABLE [ ONLY ] name [ * ]
    >    ALTER [ COLUMN ] column SET STATISTICS integer
    >
    >and reanalyzing.
    >
    >
    >Dirk Lutzebaeck <lutzeb@aeccom.com> writes:
    >
    >  
    >
    >>Can some please explain why the temp file is so huge? I understand
    >>there are a lot of rows.
    >>    
    >>
    >
    >Well that I can't explain. 22k rows of width 1361 doesn't sound so big to me
    >either. The temporary table does need to store three copies of the records at
    >a given time, but still it sounds like an awful lot.
    >
    >
    >  
    >
    
    
    
  9. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    John Arbash Meinel <john@arbash-meinel.com> — 2005-02-06T15:19:08Z

    Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    
    > Greg,
    >
    > Thanks for your analysis. But I dont get any better after bumping 
    > STATISTICS target from 10 to 200.
    > explain analyze shows that the optimizer is still way off estimating 
    > the rows. Is this normal? It still produces a 1 GB temp file.
    > I simplified the query a bit, now only two tables are involved (bi, 
    > df). I also vacuumed.
    
    
    Are you just doing VACUUM? Or are you doing VACUUM ANALYZE? You might 
    also try VACUUM ANALYZE FULL (in the case that you have too many dead 
    tuples in the table).
    
    VACUUM cleans up, but doesn't adjust any planner statistics without ANALYZE.
    
    John
    =:->
    
    
  10. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> — 2005-02-06T15:57:48Z

    I gave a bunch of "explain analyze select" commands to test estimates for
    individual columns. What results do they come up with? If those are inaccurate
    then raising the statistics target is a good route. If those are accurate
    individually but the combination is inaccurate then you have a more difficult
    problem.
    
    -- 
    greg
    
    
    
  11. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-06T16:04:05Z

    John,
    
    I'm doing VACUUM ANALYZE once a night. Before the tests I did VACUUM and 
    then ANALYZE.
    
    Dirk
    
    John A Meinel wrote:
    
    > Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    >
    >> Greg,
    >>
    >> Thanks for your analysis. But I dont get any better after bumping 
    >> STATISTICS target from 10 to 200.
    >> explain analyze shows that the optimizer is still way off estimating 
    >> the rows. Is this normal? It still produces a 1 GB temp file.
    >> I simplified the query a bit, now only two tables are involved (bi, 
    >> df). I also vacuumed.
    >
    >
    >
    > Are you just doing VACUUM? Or are you doing VACUUM ANALYZE? You might 
    > also try VACUUM ANALYZE FULL (in the case that you have too many dead 
    > tuples in the table).
    >
    > VACUUM cleans up, but doesn't adjust any planner statistics without 
    > ANALYZE.
    >
    > John
    > =:->
    >
    
    
    
  12. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-06T16:12:19Z

    Greg Stark wrote:
    
    >I gave a bunch of "explain analyze select" commands to test estimates for
    >individual columns. What results do they come up with? If those are inaccurate
    >then raising the statistics target is a good route. If those are accurate
    >individually but the combination is inaccurate then you have a more difficult
    >problem.
    >
    >  
    >
    After  setting the new statistics target to 200 they did slightly better 
    but not accurate. The results were attached to my last post. Here is a copy:
    
    
    
    explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467;
    QUERY PLAN
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    
    Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=190960 width=53) (actual 
    time=0.157..3066.028 rows=513724 loops=1)
    Filter: (rc = 130170467::oid)
    Total runtime: 4208.663 ms
    (3 rows)
    
    
    explain analyze select * from bi where co=117305223;
    QUERY PLAN
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    
    Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=603988 width=53) (actual 
    time=0.021..3692.238 rows=945487 loops=1)
    Filter: (co = 117305223::oid)
    Total runtime: 5786.268 ms
    (3 rows)
    
    Here is the distribution of the data in bi:
    select count(*) from bi;
    
     1841966
    
    
    select count(*) from bi where rc=130170467::oid;
    
     513732
    
    
    select count(*) from bi where co=117305223::oid;
    
     945503
    
    
    
    
    
    
  13. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    John Arbash Meinel <john@arbash-meinel.com> — 2005-02-06T16:46:06Z

    Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    
    > Greg Stark wrote:
    >
    >> I gave a bunch of "explain analyze select" commands to test estimates 
    >> for
    >> individual columns. What results do they come up with? If those are 
    >> inaccurate
    >> then raising the statistics target is a good route. If those are 
    >> accurate
    >> individually but the combination is inaccurate then you have a more 
    >> difficult
    >> problem.
    >>
    >>  
    >>
    > After  setting the new statistics target to 200 they did slightly 
    > better but not accurate. The results were attached to my last post. 
    > Here is a copy:
    >
    >
    It does seem that setting the statistics to a higher value would help. 
    Since rc=130170467 seems to account for almost 1/3 of the data. Probably 
    you have other values that are much less common. So setting a high 
    statistics target would help the planner realize that this value occurs 
    at a different frequency from the other ones. Can you try other numbers 
    and see what the counts are?
    
    I assume you did do a vacuum analyze after adjusting the statistics target.
    
    Also interesting that in the time it took you to place these queries, 
    you had received 26 new rows.
    
    And finally, what is the row count if you do
    explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467::oid and 
    co=117305223::oid;
    
    If this is a lot less than say 500k, then probably you aren't going to 
    be helped a lot. The postgresql statistics engine doesn't generate cross 
    column statistics. It always assumes random distribution of data. So if 
    two columns are correlated (or anti-correlated), it won't realize that.
    
    Even so, your original desire was to reduce the size of the intermediate 
    step (where you have 700k rows). So you need to try and design a 
    subselect on bi which is as restrictive as possible, so that you don't 
    get all of these rows. With any luck, the planner will realize ahead of 
    time that there won't be that many rows, and can use indexes, etc. But 
    even if it doesn't use an index scan, if you have a query that doesn't 
    use a lot of rows, then you won't need a lot of disk space.
    
    John
    =:->
    
    >
    > explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467;
    > QUERY PLAN
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    >
    > Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=190960 width=53) (actual 
    > time=0.157..3066.028 rows=513724 loops=1)
    > Filter: (rc = 130170467::oid)
    > Total runtime: 4208.663 ms
    > (3 rows)
    >
    >
    > explain analyze select * from bi where co=117305223;
    > QUERY PLAN
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    >
    > Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=603988 width=53) (actual 
    > time=0.021..3692.238 rows=945487 loops=1)
    > Filter: (co = 117305223::oid)
    > Total runtime: 5786.268 ms
    > (3 rows)
    >
    > Here is the distribution of the data in bi:
    > select count(*) from bi;
    >
    > 1841966
    >
    >
    > select count(*) from bi where rc=130170467::oid;
    >
    > 513732
    >
    >
    > select count(*) from bi where co=117305223::oid;
    >
    > 945503
    >
    >
    >
    
    
  14. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2005-02-06T17:16:54Z

    Dirk.Lutzebaeck@t-online.de (Dirk Lutzebaeck) writes:
    > SELECT DISTINCT ON (df.val_9, df.created, df.flatid) df.docindex, 
    > df.flatobj, bi.oid, bi.en
    > FROM bi,df
    > WHERE bi.rc=130170467
    > ...
    > ORDER BY df.val_9 ASC, df.created DESC
    > LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 0
    
    Just out of curiosity, what is this query supposed to *do* exactly?
    It looks to me like it will give indeterminate results.  Practical
    uses of DISTINCT ON generally specify more ORDER BY columns than
    there are DISTINCT ON columns, because the extra columns determine
    which rows have priority to survive the DISTINCT filter.  With the
    above query, you have absolutely no idea which row will be output
    for a given combination of val_9/created/flatid.
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
  15. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-06T17:18:35Z

    John A Meinel wrote:
    
    > Dirk Lutzebaeck wrote:
    >
    >> Greg Stark wrote:
    >>
    >>> I gave a bunch of "explain analyze select" commands to test 
    >>> estimates for
    >>> individual columns. What results do they come up with? If those are 
    >>> inaccurate
    >>> then raising the statistics target is a good route. If those are 
    >>> accurate
    >>> individually but the combination is inaccurate then you have a more 
    >>> difficult
    >>> problem.
    >>>
    >>>  
    >>>
    >> After  setting the new statistics target to 200 they did slightly 
    >> better but not accurate. The results were attached to my last post. 
    >> Here is a copy:
    >>
    >>
    > It does seem that setting the statistics to a higher value would help. 
    > Since rc=130170467 seems to account for almost 1/3 of the data. 
    > Probably you have other values that are much less common. So setting a 
    > high statistics target would help the planner realize that this value 
    > occurs at a different frequency from the other ones. Can you try other 
    > numbers and see what the counts are?
    
    There is not much effect when increasing statistics target much higher. 
    I guess this is because rc=130170467 takes a large portion of the column 
    distribution.
    
    > I assume you did do a vacuum analyze after adjusting the statistics 
    > target.
    
    Yes.
    
    > Also interesting that in the time it took you to place these queries, 
    > you had received 26 new rows.
    
    Yes, it's a live system...
    
    > And finally, what is the row count if you do
    > explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467::oid and 
    > co=117305223::oid;
    
    explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467::oid and 
    co=117305223::oid;
                                                        QUERY PLAN
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Seq Scan on bi  (cost=0.00..43866.19 rows=105544 width=51) (actual 
    time=0.402..3724.222 rows=513732 loops=1)
       Filter: ((rc = 130170467::oid) AND (co = 117305223::oid))
    
    Well both columns data take about 1/4 of the whole table. There is not 
    much distributed data. So it needs to do full scans...
    
    > If this is a lot less than say 500k, then probably you aren't going to 
    > be helped a lot. The postgresql statistics engine doesn't generate 
    > cross column statistics. It always assumes random distribution of 
    > data. So if two columns are correlated (or anti-correlated), it won't 
    > realize that.
    
    105k, that seems to be may problem. No much random data. Does 8.0 
    address this problem?
    
    > Even so, your original desire was to reduce the size of the 
    > intermediate step (where you have 700k rows). So you need to try and 
    > design a subselect on bi which is as restrictive as possible, so that 
    > you don't get all of these rows. With any luck, the planner will 
    > realize ahead of time that there won't be that many rows, and can use 
    > indexes, etc. But even if it doesn't use an index scan, if you have a 
    > query that doesn't use a lot of rows, then you won't need a lot of 
    > disk space.
    
    I'll try that. What I have already noticed it that one of my output 
    column is quite large so that's why it uses so much temp space. I'll 
    probably need to sort without that output column  and  read it in 
    afterwards using a subselect on the limted result.
    
    Thanks for your help,
    
    Dirk
    
    >
    > John
    > =:->
    >
    >>
    >> explain analyze select * from bi where rc=130170467;
    >> QUERY PLAN
    >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    >>
    >> Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=190960 width=53) (actual 
    >> time=0.157..3066.028 rows=513724 loops=1)
    >> Filter: (rc = 130170467::oid)
    >> Total runtime: 4208.663 ms
    >> (3 rows)
    >>
    >>
    >> explain analyze select * from bi where co=117305223;
    >> QUERY PLAN
    >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    >>
    >> Seq Scan on bi (cost=0.00..41078.76 rows=603988 width=53) (actual 
    >> time=0.021..3692.238 rows=945487 loops=1)
    >> Filter: (co = 117305223::oid)
    >> Total runtime: 5786.268 ms
    >> (3 rows)
    >>
    >> Here is the distribution of the data in bi:
    >> select count(*) from bi;
    >>
    >> 1841966
    >>
    >>
    >> select count(*) from bi where rc=130170467::oid;
    >>
    >> 513732
    >>
    >>
    >> select count(*) from bi where co=117305223::oid;
    >>
    >> 945503
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >
    
    
    
  16. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Dirk Lutzebaeck <dirk.lutzebaeck@t-online.de> — 2005-02-06T17:26:30Z

    Tom,
    
    the orginal query has more output columns. I reduced it for readability. 
    Specifically it returns a persitent object (flatobj column) which needs 
    to be processed by the application as the returned result. The problem 
    of the huge sort space usage seems to be that the flatobj is part of the 
    row, so it used always copied in the sort algorithm I guess. When I drop 
    the flatobj from the output columns the size of the temp space file 
    drops dramatically. So I'll probably need to read flatobj after the 
    sorting from the limited return result in a subselect.
    
    Regards,
    
    Dirk
    
    Tom Lane wrote:
    
    >Dirk.Lutzebaeck@t-online.de (Dirk Lutzebaeck) writes:
    >  
    >
    >>SELECT DISTINCT ON (df.val_9, df.created, df.flatid) df.docindex, 
    >>df.flatobj, bi.oid, bi.en
    >>FROM bi,df
    >>WHERE bi.rc=130170467
    >>...
    >>ORDER BY df.val_9 ASC, df.created DESC
    >>LIMIT 1000 OFFSET 0
    >>    
    >>
    >
    >Just out of curiosity, what is this query supposed to *do* exactly?
    >It looks to me like it will give indeterminate results.  Practical
    >uses of DISTINCT ON generally specify more ORDER BY columns than
    >there are DISTINCT ON columns, because the extra columns determine
    >which rows have priority to survive the DISTINCT filter.  With the
    >above query, you have absolutely no idea which row will be output
    >for a given combination of val_9/created/flatid.
    >
    >			regards, tom lane
    >
    >  
    >
    
    
    
  17. Re: query produces 1 GB temp file

    Christopher Kings-Lynne <chriskl@familyhealth.com.au> — 2005-02-09T09:14:49Z

    > I'm doing VACUUM ANALYZE once a night. Before the tests I did VACUUM and 
    > then ANALYZE.
    
    I'd suggest once an hour on any resonably active database...
    
    Chris