Thread: Storage consumption
Hello, For some very data-intensive projects it's interesting how much space the DBMS uses for the storage of data, so I'm investigating how space efficient different DBMSes are. In the PostgreSQL manual, it's written that values of the type INTEGER take op four bytes. I was curious about how close to real-World this number is, so I did a test: How much space does PostgreSQL use when storing 100000 rows where each row consists of a single INTEGER value? With help from http://random.org/ I created a file with 100000 random integer insertions. The SQL used to do that is available at http://troels.arvin.dk/db/tests/storage-sizes/randomints.zip About installation: PostgreSQL v. 7.3.4 on Red Hat Linux 9, file system ext3. PostgreSQL data-area in /var/lib/pgsql/data. For this test, PostgreSQL is being used for nothing else. Before test start: ----------------- Access to a default database ('psql' brings you right into a working database) from psql. Access to do a 'du' (disk usage unix-command) on /var/lib/pgsql/data from the command line. No existing table 'inttab' in database. PostgreSQL stopped. Test starts. ----------- Output of 'du -sb /var/lib/pgsql/data': 77946519. Start PostgreSQL. Do: "CREATE TABLE inttab (intval INT) WITHOUT OIDS;" psql -q -f random_ints.sql (Wait for a long time.) Do: "VACUUM FULL;" Shut down PostgreSQL. Output of 'du -sb /var/lib/pgsql/data': 81190551. Result: ------ Real difference: 81190551-77946519 = 3244032 Optimal difference: 100000*4 = 400000 Storage consumption rate ((real/optimal)*100)% = 811% I'm surprised by an overhead _that_ high. Any comments on my methology? Does it need adjustments? If you think it's rotten: What methology would you use to measure space overhead for a DBMS? (Again: Space overhead is seldomly interesting, but sometimes it is.) I guess that transaction log files are a joker in this context, but then again: A number which reflects the DBMS' disk usage before and after an operation does have real-World meaning, I think. (Of course, I'll need another methology for DBMSes which preallocate a fixed amount of storage for a database.) -- Greetings from Troels Arvin, Copenhagen, Denmark
Did you see the FAQ item on estimating disk space? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Troels Arvin wrote: > Hello, > > For some very data-intensive projects it's interesting how much space the > DBMS uses for the storage of data, so I'm investigating how space > efficient different DBMSes are. > > In the PostgreSQL manual, it's written that values of the type INTEGER > take op four bytes. I was curious about how close to real-World this > number is, so I did a test: How much space does PostgreSQL use when > storing 100000 rows where each row consists of a single INTEGER value? > > With help from http://random.org/ I created a file with 100000 random > integer insertions. The SQL used to do that is available at > http://troels.arvin.dk/db/tests/storage-sizes/randomints.zip > > About installation: PostgreSQL v. 7.3.4 on Red Hat Linux 9, file system > ext3. PostgreSQL data-area in /var/lib/pgsql/data. > > For this test, PostgreSQL is being used for nothing else. > > Before test start: > ----------------- > Access to a default database ('psql' brings you right into a working > database) from psql. > Access to do a 'du' (disk usage unix-command) on /var/lib/pgsql/data from > the command line. > No existing table 'inttab' in database. PostgreSQL stopped. > > Test starts. > ----------- > Output of 'du -sb /var/lib/pgsql/data': 77946519. > Start PostgreSQL. > Do: "CREATE TABLE inttab (intval INT) WITHOUT OIDS;" > psql -q -f random_ints.sql > (Wait for a long time.) > Do: "VACUUM FULL;" > Shut down PostgreSQL. > Output of 'du -sb /var/lib/pgsql/data': 81190551. > > Result: > ------ > Real difference: 81190551-77946519 = 3244032 > Optimal difference: 100000*4 = 400000 > Storage consumption rate ((real/optimal)*100)% = 811% > > I'm surprised by an overhead _that_ high. Any comments on my methology? > Does it need adjustments? If you think it's rotten: What methology would > you use to measure space overhead for a DBMS? (Again: Space overhead is > seldomly interesting, but sometimes it is.) > > I guess that transaction log files are a joker in this context, but then > again: A number which reflects the DBMS' disk usage before and after an > operation does have real-World meaning, I think. > > (Of course, I'll need another methology for DBMSes which preallocate a > fixed amount of storage for a database.) > > -- > Greetings from Troels Arvin, Copenhagen, Denmark > > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? > > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs/FAQ.html > -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 359-1001 + If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road + Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073
On Fri, 14 Nov 2003, Troels Arvin wrote: > Hello, > > For some very data-intensive projects it's interesting how much space the > DBMS uses for the storage of data, so I'm investigating how space > efficient different DBMSes are. > > In the PostgreSQL manual, it's written that values of the type INTEGER > take op four bytes. I was curious about how close to real-World this > number is, so I did a test: How much space does PostgreSQL use when > storing 100000 rows where each row consists of a single INTEGER value? > You are measuring the space used to store one row of one int column. To test the space used just by one int column a more accurate test would be to measure the difference in disk usage between a table with one int column and a table with two int columns. Kris Jurka