Re: Worse performance with higher work_mem?

Israel Brewster <[email protected]> Mon, 13 Jan 2020 15:41:41 -0900
Newsgroups gmane.comp.db.postgresql.general
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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> On Jan 13, 2020, at 3:19 PM, Tom Lane <[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
> Israel Brewster <[email protected]> writes:
>> In looking at the explain analyze output, I noticed that it had an =
=E2=80=9Cexternal merge Disk=E2=80=9D sort going on, accounting for =
about 1 second of the runtime (explain analyze output here: =
https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q <https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q>). =
Since the machine has plenty of RAM available, I went ahead and =
increased the work_mem parameter. Whereupon the query plan got much =
simpler, and performance of said query completely tanked, increasing to =
about 15.5 seconds runtime (https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S =
<https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S>), most of which was in a =
HashAggregate.
>> How can I fix this? Thanks.
>=20
> Well, the brute-force way not to get that plan is "set enable_hashagg =
=3D
> false".  But it'd likely be a better idea to try to improve the =
planner's
> rowcount estimates.  The problem here seems to be lack of stats for
> either "time_bucket('1 week', read_time)" or "read_time::date".
> In the case of the latter, do you really need a coercion to date?
> If it's a timestamp column, I'd think not.  As for the former,
> if the table doesn't get a lot of updates then creating an expression
> index on that expression might be useful.
>=20

Thanks for the suggestions. Disabling hash aggregates actually made =
things even worse: (https://explain.depesz.com/s/cjDg =
<https://explain.depesz.com/s/cjDg>), so even if that wasn=E2=80=99t a =
brute-force option, it doesn=E2=80=99t appear to be a good one. Creating =
an index on the time_bucket expression didn=E2=80=99t seem to make any =
difference, and my data does get a lot of additions (though virtually no =
changes) anyway (about 1 additional record per second). As far as =
coercion to date, that=E2=80=99s so I can do queries bounded by date, =
and actually have all results from said date included. That said, I =
could of course simply make sure that when I get a query parameter of, =
say, 2020-1-13, I expand that into a full date-time for the end of the =
day. However, doing so for a test query didn=E2=80=99t seem to make much =
of a difference either: https://explain.depesz.com/s/X5VT =
<https://explain.depesz.com/s/X5VT>

So, to summarise:

Set enable_hasagg=3Doff: worse
Index on time_bucket expression: no change in execution time or query =
plan that I can see
Get rid of coercion to date: *slight* improvement. 14.692 seconds =
instead of 15.5 seconds. And it looks like the row count estimates were =
actually worse.
Lower work_mem, forcing a disk sort and completely different query plan: =
Way, way better (around 6 seconds)

=E2=80=A6so so far, it looks like the best option is to lower the =
work_mem, run the query, then set it back?
---
Israel Brewster
Software Engineer
Alaska Volcano Observatory=20
Geophysical Institute - UAF=20
2156 Koyukuk Drive=20
Fairbanks AK 99775-7320
Work: 907-474-5172
cell:  907-328-9145

> 			regards, tom lane


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<html><head><meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Dutf-8"></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; =
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" =
class=3D""><div><blockquote type=3D"cite" class=3D""><div class=3D"">On =
Jan 13, 2020, at 3:19 PM, Tom Lane &lt;<a =
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" class=3D"">[email protected]</a>&gt; =
wrote:</div><br class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=3D""><div =
class=3D"">Israel Brewster &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]" =
class=3D"">[email protected]</a>&gt; writes:<br class=3D""><blockquote=
 type=3D"cite" class=3D"">In looking at the explain analyze output, I =
noticed that it had an =E2=80=9Cexternal merge Disk=E2=80=9D sort going =
on, accounting for about 1 second of the runtime (explain analyze output =
here: <a href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q</a> &lt;<a =
href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/jx0q</a>&gt;). Since the machine =
has plenty of RAM available, I went ahead and increased the work_mem =
parameter. Whereupon the query plan got much simpler, and performance of =
said query completely tanked, increasing to about 15.5 seconds runtime =
(<a href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S</a> &lt;<a =
href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/Kl0S</a>&gt;), most of which was =
in a HashAggregate.<br class=3D"">How can I fix this? Thanks.<br =
class=3D""></blockquote><br class=3D"">Well, the brute-force way not to =
get that plan is "set enable_hashagg =3D<br class=3D"">false". &nbsp;But =
it'd likely be a better idea to try to improve the planner's<br =
class=3D"">rowcount estimates. &nbsp;The problem here seems to be lack =
of stats for<br class=3D"">either "time_bucket('1 week', read_time)" or =
"read_time::date".<br class=3D"">In the case of the latter, do you =
really need a coercion to date?<br class=3D"">If it's a timestamp =
column, I'd think not. &nbsp;As for the former,<br class=3D"">if the =
table doesn't get a lot of updates then creating an expression<br =
class=3D"">index on that expression might be useful.<br class=3D""><br =
class=3D""></div></div></blockquote><div><br class=3D""></div><div>Thanks =
for the suggestions. Disabling hash aggregates actually made things even =
worse: (<a href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/cjDg" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/cjDg</a>), so even if that =
wasn=E2=80=99t a brute-force option, it doesn=E2=80=99t appear to be a =
good one. Creating an index on the time_bucket expression didn=E2=80=99t =
seem to make any difference, and my data does get a lot of additions =
(though virtually no changes) anyway (about 1 additional record per =
second). As far as coercion to date, that=E2=80=99s so I can do queries =
bounded by date, and actually have all results from said date included. =
That said, I could of course simply make sure that when I get a query =
parameter of, say, 2020-1-13, I expand that into a full date-time for =
the end of the day. However, doing so for a test query didn=E2=80=99t =
seem to make much of a difference either:&nbsp;<a =
href=3D"https://explain.depesz.com/s/X5VT" =
class=3D"">https://explain.depesz.com/s/X5VT</a></div><div><br =
class=3D""></div><div>So, to summarise:</div><div><br =
class=3D""></div><div>Set enable_hasagg=3Doff: worse</div><div>Index on =
time_bucket expression: no change in execution time or query plan that I =
can see</div><div>Get rid of coercion to date: *slight* improvement. =
14.692 seconds instead of 15.5 seconds. And it looks like the row count =
estimates were actually worse.</div><div>Lower work_mem, forcing a disk =
sort and completely different query plan: Way, way better (around 6 =
seconds)</div><div><br class=3D""></div><div>=E2=80=A6so so far, it =
looks like the best option is to lower the work_mem, run the query, then =
set it back?</div><div><div>---</div><div>Israel Brewster<br =
class=3D"">Software Engineer<br class=3D"">Alaska Volcano =
Observatory&nbsp;<br class=3D"">Geophysical Institute - UAF&nbsp;<br =
class=3D"">2156 Koyukuk Drive&nbsp;<br class=3D"">Fairbanks AK =
99775-7320</div><div>Work: 907-474-5172<br class=3D"">cell: =
&nbsp;907-328-9145</div></div><br class=3D""><blockquote type=3D"cite" =
class=3D""><div class=3D""><div class=3D""><span class=3D"Apple-tab-span" =
style=3D"white-space:pre">	</span><span class=3D"Apple-tab-span" =
style=3D"white-space:pre">	</span><span class=3D"Apple-tab-span" =
style=3D"white-space:pre">	</span>regards, tom lane<br =
class=3D""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=3D""></body></html>=

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