Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-21 Thread Heikki Linnakangas

On 22.12.2010 09:25, Rob Wultsch wrote:

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:15 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
  wrote:

Hmm, innodb_autoextend_increment seems more like what we're discussing here
(http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_autoextend_increment).
If I'm reading that correctly, InnoDB defaults to extending files in 8MB
chunks.


This is not pure apples to apples as InnoDB does direct io, however
doesn't the checkpoint completion target code call fsync repeatedly in
order to achieve the check point completion target?


It only fsync's each file once. If there's a lot of files, it needs to 
issue a lot of fsync's, but for different files.


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  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

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Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-21 Thread Rob Wultsch
On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:15 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
 wrote:
> On 22.12.2010 03:45, Rob Wultsch wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 4:49 AM, Robert Haas
>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Jim Nasby  wrote:

 On Dec 19, 2010, at 1:10 AM, flyusa2010 fly wrote:
>
> Does postgres make an effort to create a file with physically
> continuous blocks?

 AFAIK all files are expanded as needed. I don't think there's any flags
 you can pass to the filesystem to tell it "this file will eventually be 1GB
 in size". So, we're basically at the mercy of the FS to try and keep things
 contiguous.
>>>
>>> There have been some reports that we would do better on some
>>> filesystems if we extended the file more than a block at a time, as we
>>> do today.  However, AFAIK, no one is pursuing this ATM.
>>
>> The has been found to be the case in the MySQL world, particularly
>> when ext3 is in use:
>> http://forge.mysql.com/worklog/task.php?id=4925
>> http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=194501560932
>
> These seem to be about extending the transaction log, and we already
> pre-allocate the WAL. The WAL is repeatedly fsync'd, so I can understand
> that extending that in small chunks would hurt performance a lot, as the
> filesystem needs to flush the metadata changes to disk at every commit.
> However, that's not an issue with extending data files, they are only
> fsync'd at checkpoints.
>
> It might well be advantageous to extend data files in larger chunks too, but
> it's probably nowhere near as important as with the WAL.

Agree.

>> Also, InnoDB has an option for how much data should be allocated at
>> the end of a tablespace when it needs to grow:
>>
>> http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_data_file_path
>
> Hmm, innodb_autoextend_increment seems more like what we're discussing here
> (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_autoextend_increment).
> If I'm reading that correctly, InnoDB defaults to extending files in 8MB
> chunks.

This is not pure apples to apples as InnoDB does direct io, however
doesn't the checkpoint completion target code call fsync repeatedly in
order to achieve the check point completion target? And for that
matter, haven't there been recent discussion on hackers about calling
fsync more often?

Sorry for the loopy email. I have not been getting anywhere near
enough sleep recently :(
-- 
Rob Wultsch
wult...@gmail.com

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Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-21 Thread Heikki Linnakangas

On 22.12.2010 03:45, Rob Wultsch wrote:

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 4:49 AM, Robert Haas  wrote:

On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Jim Nasby  wrote:

On Dec 19, 2010, at 1:10 AM, flyusa2010 fly wrote:

Does postgres make an effort to create a file with physically continuous blocks?


AFAIK all files are expanded as needed. I don't think there's any flags you can pass to 
the filesystem to tell it "this file will eventually be 1GB in size". So, we're 
basically at the mercy of the FS to try and keep things contiguous.


There have been some reports that we would do better on some
filesystems if we extended the file more than a block at a time, as we
do today.  However, AFAIK, no one is pursuing this ATM.


The has been found to be the case in the MySQL world, particularly
when ext3 is in use:
http://forge.mysql.com/worklog/task.php?id=4925
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=194501560932


These seem to be about extending the transaction log, and we already 
pre-allocate the WAL. The WAL is repeatedly fsync'd, so I can understand 
that extending that in small chunks would hurt performance a lot, as the 
filesystem needs to flush the metadata changes to disk at every commit. 
However, that's not an issue with extending data files, they are only 
fsync'd at checkpoints.


It might well be advantageous to extend data files in larger chunks too, 
but it's probably nowhere near as important as with the WAL.



Also, InnoDB has an option for how much data should be allocated at
the end of a tablespace when it needs to grow:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_data_file_path


Hmm, innodb_autoextend_increment seems more like what we're discussing 
here 
(http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_autoextend_increment). 
If I'm reading that correctly, InnoDB defaults to extending files in 8MB 
chunks.


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  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

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Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-21 Thread Rob Wultsch
On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 4:49 AM, Robert Haas  wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Jim Nasby  wrote:
>> On Dec 19, 2010, at 1:10 AM, flyusa2010 fly wrote:
>>> Does postgres make an effort to create a file with physically continuous 
>>> blocks?
>>
>> AFAIK all files are expanded as needed. I don't think there's any flags you 
>> can pass to the filesystem to tell it "this file will eventually be 1GB in 
>> size". So, we're basically at the mercy of the FS to try and keep things 
>> contiguous.
>
> There have been some reports that we would do better on some
> filesystems if we extended the file more than a block at a time, as we
> do today.  However, AFAIK, no one is pursuing this ATM.
>


The has been found to be the case in the MySQL world, particularly
when ext3 is in use:
http://forge.mysql.com/worklog/task.php?id=4925
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=194501560932


Also, InnoDB has an option for how much data should be allocated at
the end of a tablespace when it needs to grow:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-parameters.html#sysvar_innodb_data_file_path

-- 
Rob Wultsch
wult...@gmail.com

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Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-21 Thread Robert Haas
On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:10 PM, Jim Nasby  wrote:
> On Dec 19, 2010, at 1:10 AM, flyusa2010 fly wrote:
>> Does postgres make an effort to create a file with physically continuous 
>> blocks?
>
> AFAIK all files are expanded as needed. I don't think there's any flags you 
> can pass to the filesystem to tell it "this file will eventually be 1GB in 
> size". So, we're basically at the mercy of the FS to try and keep things 
> contiguous.

There have been some reports that we would do better on some
filesystems if we extended the file more than a block at a time, as we
do today.  However, AFAIK, no one is pursuing this ATM.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

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Re: [HACKERS] Can postgres create a file with physically continuous blocks.

2010-12-19 Thread Jim Nasby
On Dec 19, 2010, at 1:10 AM, flyusa2010 fly wrote:
> Does postgres make an effort to create a file with physically continuous 
> blocks? 

AFAIK all files are expanded as needed. I don't think there's any flags you can 
pass to the filesystem to tell it "this file will eventually be 1GB in size". 
So, we're basically at the mercy of the FS to try and keep things contiguous.

BTW, it's worse with btree indexes; they end up non-sequential inside the file 
anyway, so even if the file is contiguous index access may not be.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Database Architect   j...@nasby.net
512.569.9461 (cell) http://jim.nasby.net



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