Re: Tracking last scan time - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 2:55 PM Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 14 Oct 2022 at 19:16, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
>> On 2022-10-13 14:38:06 +0100, Dave Page wrote:
>> > Thanks for that. It looks good to me, bar one comment (repeated 3 times in
>> > the sql and expected files):
>> >
>> > fetch timestamps from before the next test
>> >
>> > "from " should be removed.
>>
>> I was trying to say something with that from, but clearly it wasn't
>> understandable :). Removed.
>>
>> With that I pushed the changes and marked the CF entry as committed.
>
>
> Thanks!
>

Hey folks,

I was looking at this a bit further (great addition btw) and noticed
the following behavior (this is a mre of the original testing that
uncovered this):

pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan | last_seq_scan |
seq_tup_read | idx_scan | last_idx_scan | idx_tup_fetch | n_tup_ins |
n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup | n_dead_tup |
n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+---------------+--------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
(0 rows)

pagila=# create table x (xx int);
CREATE TABLE
Time: 2.145 ms
pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan | last_seq_scan |
seq_tup_read | idx_scan | last_idx_scan | idx_tup_fetch | n_tup_ins |
n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup | n_dead_tup |
n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+---------------+--------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
 16392 | public     | x       |        0 | [null]        |
0 |   [null] | [null]        |        [null] |         0 |         0 |
        0 |             0 |          0 |          0 |
 0 |                  0 | [null]      | [null]          | [null]
| [null]           |            0 |                0 |             0 |
                0
(1 row)

pagila=# insert into x select 1;
INSERT 0 1
pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan |     last_seq_scan      |
seq_tup_read | idx_scan | last_idx_scan | idx_tup_fetch | n_tup_ins |
n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup | n_dead_tup |
n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+------------------------+--------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
 16392 | public     | x       |        0 | 1999-12-31 19:00:00-05 |
        0 |   [null] | [null]        |        [null] |         1 |
    0 |         0 |             0 |          1 |          0 |
         1 |                  1 | [null]      | [null]          |
[null]       | [null]           |            0 |                0 |
         0 |                 0
(1 row)

Normally we populate "last" columns with a NULL value when the
corresponding marker is zero, which seems correct in the first query,
but no longer matches in the second. I can see an argument that this
is a necessary exception to that rule (I'm not sure I agree with it,
but I see it) but even in that scenario, ISTM we should avoid
populating the table with a "special value", which generally goes
against observability best practices, and I believe we've been able to
avoid it elsewhere.

Beyond that, I also notice the behavior changes when adding a table
with a PK, though not necessarily better...

pagila=# drop table x;
DROP TABLE
Time: 2.896 ms
pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan | last_seq_scan |
seq_tup_read | idx_scan | last_idx_scan | idx_tup_fetch | n_tup_ins |
n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup | n_dead_tup |
n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+---------------+--------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
(0 rows)

pagila=# create table x (xx int primary key) ;
CREATE TABLE

pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan |         last_seq_scan
  | seq_tup_read | idx_scan | last_idx_scan | idx_tup_fetch |
n_tup_ins | n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup |
n_dead_tup | n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+-------------------------------+--------------+----------+---------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
 16400 | public     | x       |        1 | 2022-10-23
15:53:04.935192-04 |            0 |        0 | [null]        |
    0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |             0 |          0
|          0 |                   0 |                  0 | [null]
| [null]          | [null]       | [null]           |            0 |
             0 |             0 |                 0
(1 row)

pagila=# insert into x select 1;
INSERT 0 1

pagila=# select * from pg_stat_user_tables ;
 relid | schemaname | relname | seq_scan |         last_seq_scan
  | seq_tup_read | idx_scan |     last_idx_scan      | idx_tup_fetch |
n_tup_ins | n_tup_upd | n_tup_del | n_tup_hot_upd | n_live_tup |
n_dead_tup | n_mod_since_analyze | n_ins_since_vacuum | last_vacuum |
last_autovacuum | last_analyze | last_autoanalyze | vacuum_count |
autovacuum_count | analyze_count | autoanalyze_count
-------+------------+---------+----------+-------------------------------+--------------+----------+------------------------+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------------+------------+------------+---------------------+--------------------+-------------+-----------------+--------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+---------------+-------------------
 16400 | public     | x       |        1 | 2022-10-23
15:53:04.935192-04 |            0 |        0 | 1999-12-31 19:00:00-05
|             0 |         1 |         0 |         0 |             0 |
        1 |          0 |                   1 |                  1 |
[null]      | [null]          | [null]       | [null]           |
      0 |                0 |             0 |                 0
(1 row)

This time the create table both populate a sequential scan and
populates the last_seq_scan with a real/correct value. However an
insert into the table neither advances the seq_scan nor the
last_seq_scan values which seems like different behavior from my
original example, with the added negative that the last_idx_scan is
now populated with a special value :-(

I think the simplest fix which should correspond to existing versions
behavior would be to just ensure that we replace any "special value"
timestamps with a real transaction timestamp, and then maybe note that
these fields may be advanced by operations which don't strictly show
up as a sequential or index scan.


Robert Treat
https://xzilla.net