> Thanks - I'm sorry that I was not more specific earlier, but what would > be *really* helpful is the output of explain analyze, since that also > shows actual time, # rows and # loops of the inner nestloop.
No problem at all. EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM events_events LEFT OUTER JOIN events_event_types ON eventType_id=events_event_types.id WHERE severity=20 AND (eventType_id IN (71)) ORDER BY datetime DESC limit 50; QUERY PLAN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Limit (cost=3.23..200.31 rows=50 width=131) (actual time=0.070..0.341 rows=50 loops=1) -> Nested Loop (cost=3.23..49139.16 rows=12466 width=131) (actual time=0.069..0.309 rows=50 loops=1) -> Index Scan Backward using events_events_eventtype_id_datetime_ind on events_events (cost=0.00..48886.61 rows=12466 width=93) (actual time=0.037..0.144 rows=50 loops=1) Index Cond: (eventtype_id = 71) -> Materialize (cost=3.23..3.24 rows=1 width=38) (actual time=0.001..0.001 rows=1 loops=50) -> Seq Scan on events_event_types (cost=0.00..3.23 rows=1 width=38) (actual time=0.024..0.029 rows=1 loops=1) Filter: ((id = 71) AND (severity = 20)) Total runtime: 0.415 ms (8 rows) Time: 1.290 ms EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM events_events LEFT OUTER JOIN events_event_types ON eventType_id=events_event_types.id WHERE severity=70 AND (eventType_id IN (71)) ORDER BY datetime DESC limit 50; QUERY PLAN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Limit (cost=3.23..200.31 rows=50 width=131) (actual time=11641.775..11641.775 rows=0 loops=1) -> Nested Loop (cost=3.23..49139.16 rows=12466 width=131) (actual time=11641.773..11641.773 rows=0 loops=1) -> Index Scan Backward using events_events_eventtype_id_datetime_ind on events_events (cost=0.00..48886.61 rows=12466 width=93) (actual time=0.035..11573.320 rows=50389 loops=1) Index Cond: (eventtype_id = 71) -> Materialize (cost=3.23..3.24 rows=1 width=38) (actual time=0.000..0.000 rows=0 loops=50389) -> Seq Scan on events_event_types (cost=0.00..3.23 rows=1 width=38) (actual time=0.028..0.028 rows=0 loops=1) Filter: ((id = 71) AND (severity = 70)) Total runtime: 11641.839 ms (8 rows) Time: 11642.902 ms EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM events_events LEFT OUTER JOIN events_event_types ON eventType_id=events_event_types.id WHERE severity=70 AND (eventType_id IN (71, 999)) ORDER BY datetime DESC LIMIT 50; QUERY PLAN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Limit (cost=27290.26..27290.38 rows=50 width=131) (actual time=0.118..0.118 rows=0 loops=1) -> Sort (cost=27290.26..27303.17 rows=5164 width=131) (actual time=0.117..0.117 rows=0 loops=1) Sort Key: events_events.datetime Sort Method: quicksort Memory: 17kB -> Nested Loop (cost=22.95..27118.71 rows=5164 width=131) (actual time=0.112..0.112 rows=0 loops=1) -> Seq Scan on events_event_types (cost=0.00..3.02 rows=17 width=38) (actual time=0.016..0.041 rows=16 loops=1) Filter: (severity = 70) -> Bitmap Heap Scan on events_events (cost=22.95..1589.94 rows=408 width=93) (actual time=0.002..0.002 rows=0 loops=16) Recheck Cond: ((events_events.eventtype_id = ANY ('{71,999}'::bigint[])) AND (events_events.eventtype_id = events_event_types.id)) -> Bitmap Index Scan on test_events_events_eventtype_id_severity_ind (cost=0.00..22.85 rows=408 width=0) (actual time=0.001..0.001 rows=0 loops=16) Index Cond: ((events_events.eventtype_id = ANY ('{71,999}'::bigint[])) AND (events_events.eventtype_id = events_event_types.id)) Total runtime: 0.179 ms (12 rows) Time: 1.510 ms > I'm > wondering though why you do a left outer join. From the \d output in the > previous mail, events_event.eventtype_id has a not null constraint and a > fk to events_event_types.id, so an inner join would be appropriate. > Outer joins limits the amount of join orders the planner considers, so a > better plan might arise when the join is changed to inner. I do agree with this assessment. I'm sort of improving the performance of an existing implementation of ours, for which I'm not aware why they chose for LEFT OUTER. I did, however, test things with INNER as well, with the same results, so I decided to stick with what I encountered in the existing implementation. But it's on my mind as well ;-)