In the next few weeks, I’m going to be pushing a long discussion regarding Postgres (PostgreSQL) table partitioning. I’ve covered it in previous articles, but only regarding basic performance considerations. That’s a very limited view of what partitioning can offer; there’s a lot more variance and background that deserves elucidation.
We’re finally at the end of the 10-part Postgres (PostgreSQL) performance series I use to initiate new developers into the database world. To that end, we’re going to discuss something that affects everyone at one point or another: index criteria. Or to put it another way:
An easy way to give Postgres (PostgreSQL) a performance boost is to judiciously use indexes based on queries observed in the system. For most situations, this is as simple as indexing columns that are referenced frequently in WHERE clauses. Postgres is one of the few database engines that takes this idea even further with partial indexes. Unfortunately as a consequence of insufficient exposure, most DBAs and users are unfamiliar with this extremely powerful functionality.
I apologize for putting this series on a short hiatus last week for the 4th of July. But worry not, for this week is something special for all the developers out there! I’m going to try to make your life easier for a change. Screw the database!
As a database, Postgres (PostgreSQL) is fairly standard in its use of SQL. Developers of all colors however, might have trouble switching gears and thinking in set operations, since so many language constructs focus on conditionals and looping. Last week in the performance pitfalls series, we discussed a bit of Set Theory, and how ignorance of its implications can be disastrous. But what about the more mundane?