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A Deep Dive into PostgreSQL Indexing

Event: PostgresConf Webinar

Dates: May 21, 2020

Presentation: May 21, 2020

Link: On event website

Speaker: Ibrar Ahmed

Indexes are a basic feature of relational databases, and PostgreSQL offers a rich collection of options to developers and designers. To take advantage of these fully, users need to understand the basic concept of indexes, to be able to compare the different index types and how they apply to different application scenarios. Only then can you make an informed decision about your database index strategy and design. One thing is for sure: not all indexes are appropriate for all circumstances, and using a ‘wrong’ index can have the opposite effect to that you intend and problems might only surface once in production. Armed with more advanced knowledge, you can avoid this worst-case scenario! We’ll take a look at how to use pg_stat_statment to find opportunities for adding indexes to your database. We’ll take a look at when to add an index, and when adding an index is unlikely to result in a good solution. So should you add an index to every column? Come and discover why this strategy is rarely recommended as we take a deep dive into PostgreSQL indexing.

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A Deep Dive into PostgreSQL Indexing

Speakers

Ibrar Ahmed

Ibrar Ahmed

Ibrar Ahmed is a Principal Engineer at pgEdge. He previously worked as a Software Architect at Percona. Before open source he worked on system-level embedded software. After joining EnterpriseDB in 2006 he moved into PostgreSQL. He has contributed to PostgreSQL and other open source projects, from performance work to various PostgreSQL modules. He has also worked with MySQL, Oracle, and NoSQL systems such as MongoDB and Hadoop, and with related tools including Hive, HBase, and Spark.

He has given PostgreSQL talks at PGConf EU, PGConf Asia, PGConf NYC, Percona Live, FOSDEM, and elsewhere, and has authored books on PostgreSQL.

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