Folks,
More followup on this:
The crucial difference between the two execution plans is this clause:
test db has:
-> Seq Scan on case_clients (cost=0.00..3673.48 rows=11274 width=11) (actual
time=0.02..302.20 rows=8822 loops=855)
whereas live db has:
-> Index Scan using idx_caseclients_case on case_clients (cost=0.00..5.10
rows=1 width=11) (actual time=0.03..0.04 rows=1 loops=471)
using an enable_seqscan = false fixes this, but is obviously not a long-term
solution.
I've re-created the test system from an immediate copy of the live database,
and checked that the the main tables and indexes were reproduced faithfully.
Lowering random_page_cost seems to do the trick. But I'm still mystified; why
would one identical database pick a different plan than its copy?
--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco
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TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your
joining column's datatypes do not match
