Horton
Menu

Re: increasing the default WAL segment size

Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com>

View thread
From: Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com>
To: Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>
Cc: "pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org" <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2016-08-25T15:21:33Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers 
On 25 August 2016 at 02:31, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:

> Furthermore, there is an enforced, synchronous fsync at the end of
> every segment, which actually does hurt performance on write-heavy
> workloads.[2] Of course, if that were the only reason to consider
> increasing the segment size, it would probably make more sense to just
> try to push that extra fsync into the background, but that's not
> really the case.  From what I hear, the gigantic number of files is a
> bigger pain point.

I think we should fully describe the problem before finding a solution.

This is too big a change to just tweak a value without discussing the
actual issue.

And if the problem is as described, how can a change of x4 be enough
to make it worth the pain of change? I think you're already admitting
it can't be worth it by discussing initdb configuration.

If we do have the pain of change, should we also consider making WAL
files variable length? What do we gain by having the files all the
same size? ISTM better to have WAL files that vary in length up to 1GB
in size.

(This is all about XLOG_SEG_SIZE; I presume XLOG_BLCKSZ can stay as it
is, right?)

-- 
Simon Riggs                http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →

  1. Make WAL segment size configurable at initdb time.

  2. Perform only one ReadControlFile() during startup.

  3. Introduce BYTES unit for GUCs.

  4. Remove useless duplicate inclusions of system header files.

  5. Refactor other replication commands to use DestRemoteSimple.

  6. Add a SHOW command to the replication command language.

  7. Add a new DestReceiver for printing tuples without catalog access.

  8. Support fls().

  9. Extend yesterday's patch making BLCKSZ and RELSEG_SIZE configurable to also

  10. Commit the reasonably uncontroversial parts of J.R. Nield's PITR patch, to

  11. XLOG (also known as WAL -:)) Bootstrap/Startup/Shutdown.

  12. Transaction log manager core code.