Database monitoring

Database monitoring and troubleshooting

Monitoring queries

Monitoring tables

Monitoring indexes

All the indexes in SIMS database are btree indexes except for sims.user_first_name_last_name which is a gin index. The strategy to find bloated indexes is different for btree and gin indexes.

Identifying bloated Btree indexes(Requires extension pgstattuple)

-- Run as superuser
select
	i.schemaname,
	i.relname as table_name,
	i.indexrelname as index_name,
	pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size(i.indexrelid)) as index_size_pretty,
	stat.avg_leaf_density,
	stat.leaf_fragmentation,
	stat.empty_pages,
	stat.deleted_pages,
	case
		when stat.leaf_fragmentation > 50 then 'REINDEX NOW'
		when stat.leaf_fragmentation > 30 then 'REINDEX SOON'
		when stat.avg_leaf_density < 50 then 'BLOATED'
		else 'HEALTHY' end 
	as index_bloat_status
	from
		pg_stat_user_indexes i
	join 
    pg_class c on
		i.indexrelid = c.oid
	join 
    pg_am am on
		c.relam = am.oid
	cross join lateral
    pgstatindex(i.indexrelid) stat
	where
		am.amname = 'btree'
		and pg_relation_size(i.indexrelid) > 1024 * 1024
		-- Filter only indexes > 1MB
	order by
		stat.leaf_fragmentation desc;

Fixing bloated Btree indexes

--Run as nonsuperuser
REINDEX INDEX CONCURRENTLY index_name; 

--Optional: If needed to re-index all the indexes in a table
REINDEX TABLE CONCURRENTLY table_name;

Identifying bloated Gin indexes(Requires extension pgstattuple)

As we have only one GIN index sims.user_first_name_last_name, the steps to identify are very brief here.

The pgstattuple extension provides pgstatginindex(), but it only measures unflushed entries, not the actual empty space left behind by dead tuples. Because of this, GIN indexes suffer from two distinct types of bloat, and you have to check for them differently: Pending List Bloat and Structural Bloat.

Identifying Gin indexes with structural bloat

-- If the index_to_table_size_percentage is more than 100% then it can be considered as structural bloat.
-- Even after re-index if the index size still remains over 100% then it is the true size of the index without bloating.
SELECT
    i.schemaname,
    i.relname AS table_name,
    i.indexrelname AS index_name,
    pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size(i.relid)) AS table_size,
    pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size(i.indexrelid)) AS index_size,
    ROUND(
        CAST(pg_relation_size(i.indexrelid) AS NUMERIC) /
        NULLIF(pg_relation_size(i.relid), 0) * 100,
        2
    ) AS index_to_table_size_percentage
FROM
    pg_stat_user_indexes i
JOIN 
    pg_class c ON i.indexrelid = c.oid
JOIN 
    pg_am am ON c.relam = am.oid
WHERE
    am.amname = 'gin'
    AND pg_relation_size(i.indexrelid) > 1024 * 1024 -- Only check indexes > 10MB
ORDER BY
    index_to_table_size_percentage DESC;

Fixing Gin indexes with structural bloat

--Run as nonsuperuser
REINDEX INDEX CONCURRENTLY index_name; 

--Optional: If needed to re-index all the indexes in a table
REINDEX TABLE CONCURRENTLY table_name;

Identifying Gin indexes with pending list bloat

--Check for pending pages or pending tuples
select * from pgstatginindex('sims.user_first_name_last_name');

Fixing Gin indexes with pending pages/tuples

Note: Fix for the pending list must be executed only when there is no structural bloat. If structural bloat is present, then the reindex process will also clean up the pending list.

-- Option 1: VACUUM to flush pending list
VACUUM your_table;

-- Option 2: manual flush of pending list only
SELECT gin_clean_pending_list('sims.user_first_name_last_name');