Slow indexscan - Mailing list pgsql-performance

From Mikko Partio
Subject Slow indexscan
Date
Msg-id 2ca799770706200702y1074f066s61279b67f93315d0@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
Responses Re: Slow indexscan
Re: Slow indexscan
List pgsql-performance
Hello group

I have a problem with a simple index scan using the primary key of a table taking too long.

Relevant facts:
pg version 7.3.4 (yeah very old, we are upgrading asap)

postgresql.conf:
shared_buffers = 25000
random_page_cost = 2
effective_cache_size = 200000
sort_mem = 20000

Table:
db=# \d tbl_20070601
             Table "public.tbl_20070601"
      Column      |         Type          | Modifiers
------------------+-----------------------+-----------
 validtime        | bigint                | not null
 latitude         | double precision      | not null
 longitude        | double precision      | not null
.....
parname          | character varying(20) | not null
....
(table has a lot of columns but these are the most important ones)

Indexes: tbl_20060601_pkey primary key btree (validtime, latitude, longitude, ..., parname, ...)

Validtime is a timestamp for the row (not my design).

the query:
db=# explain analyze select * from tbl_20070601 where validtime between 20070602000000 and 20070602235500 and latitude=60.2744 and longitude=26.4417 and parname in ('parameter');
                                                                                       QUERY PLAN                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Index Scan using tbl_20070601_pkey on tbl_20070601 t1  (cost= 0.00..365.13 rows=13 width=137) (actual time=120.83..10752.64 rows=539 loops=1)
   Index Cond: ((validtime >= 20070602000000::bigint) AND (validtime <= 20070602235500::bigint) AND (latitude = 60.2744::double precision) AND (longitude = 26.4417::double precision))
   Filter: (parname = 'temperature'::character varying)
 Total runtime: 10753.85 msec
(4 rows)

db=# select count(*) from tbl_20070601;
   count
---------
 3715565
(1 row)

the query is only returning 539 rows but it takes more than 10 seconds to execute. The table has only inserts and never deletes or updates and it has been analyzed recently.

Is there anything to tweak with the query and/or postgresql, or should the hardware be inspected? Server is 2-CPU 4GB RAM blade-server with a fibre connection to a disk subsystem. Any more information I can give about the system?


Regards

MP

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