Slow SQL

If your tables are large and you are suffering from slow queries the number one place to start to look, is at the indexes on the tables they are usually the culprit. There are several tools that can help you investigate and dissect the problem you are having with your queries within your Postgres database. In other databases there are similar tools that you can use but in this blog we will only focus on the Postgres components.

PG_STATS_STATEMENTS
The pg_stats_statements component is a awesome place to start to find to not only gathering statistics on the SQL that is being executed against your database but easily identify the slow performing SQL statements.

Once you have this component installed, a system view named pg_stat_statements will be available with all kinds of great information once it has had a chance to consume a good amount of data, look for queries that have relatively high total_time value.

Example: SELECT * FROM pg_stat_statements ORDER BY total_time DESC.

AUTO_EXPLAIN
auto_explain is very useful for finding slow queries but has advantages: First it logs the actual execution plan and supports logging nested statements using the log_nested_statements option. Nested statements are those statements that are executed inside a function. If your application uses many functions, auto_explain is invaluable for getting detailed execution plans. The log_min_duration control which query execution plans are logged, based on how long they perform. For instance, if you set this to 1000, all sql statements that run longer than one second will be logged

Statistics Collector
The statistics collector is a great system that collects all sorts of performance statistics that are extremely helpful in analyzing your slow performing SQL.

Turning on the statistics collector on gives you tons of pg_stat_… views which contain all the handy information. In particular, I have found it to be extremely helpful for finding missing and unused indexes.

EXPLAIN
The EXPLAIN command is a great tool when it comes to tuning queries. It tells you exactly what is really going on within your SQL. To execute it, simply but the EXPLAIN command in front of your statement (i.e EXPLAIN SELECT ……) and run it. PostgreSQL will show you the execution plan it used.

When using EXPLAIN for increasing the performance of your SQL, I suggest using the ANALYZE option (EXPLAIN ANALYZE) as it gives you more accurate results. The ANALYZE option actually executes the statement (rather than just estimating it) and then explains it. In a later BLOG I will go into great depth on the output of the EXPLAIN.

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