Slow query with planner row strange estimation

Hello,

I try to make a query run quicker but I don't really know how to give
hints to the planner.

We are using postgresql 8.4.3 64bit on ubuntu 9.10 server. The hardware
is a 10 SAS drive (15k) on a single RAID 10 array with 8Go RAM.
Queries come from J2EE application (OLAP cube), but running them in
pg_admin perform the same way.

I made a short example that shows what I think is the problem. The real
query is much longer but with only one join it already cause problems.

Here is the short example :

select rfoadv_8.rfoadvsup as c8,
sum(dwhinv.dwhinvqte) as m0
from
dwhinv as dwhinv,
rfoadv as rfoadv_8
where (dwhinv.dwhinv___rforefide = 'HPLUS'
and (dwhinv.dwhinv___rfodomide = 'PMSI' and
dwhinv.dwhinv___rfoindrvs = '1' and
dwhinv.dwhinv___rfoindide='recN3_BB_reel') )
and dwhinv.dwhinv_p2rfodstide = rfoadv_8.rfoadvinf
and rfoadv_8.rfoadvsup = 'ACTI'
group by rfoadv_8.rfoadvsup

dwhinv is a table with almost 6.000.000 records
rfoadv is a view with 800.000 records
rfoadv is based on rfoade which is 50.000 records

Here is the explain analyse :
GroupAggregate (cost=0.00..16.56 rows=1 width=13) (actual
time=2028.452..2028.453 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Nested Loop (cost=0.00..16.54 rows=1 width=13) (actual
time=0.391..1947.432 rows=42664 loops=1)
Join Filter: (((ade2.rfoadegch)::text >= (ade1.rfoadegch)::text)
AND ((ade2.rfoadedrt)::text <= (ade1.rfoadedrt)::text))
-> Nested Loop (cost=0.00..12.54 rows=1 width=214) (actual
time=0.304..533.281 rows=114350 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using dwhinv_rdi_idx on dwhinv
(cost=0.00..4.87 rows=1 width=12) (actual time=0.227..16.827 rows=6360
loops=1)
Index Cond: (((dwhinv___rforefide)::text =
'HPLUS'::text) AND ((dwhinv___rfodomide)::text = 'PMSI'::text) AND
((dwhinv___rfoindide)::text = 'recN3_BB_reel'::text) AND
(dwhinv___rfoindrvs = 1))
-> Index Scan using rfoade_dsi_idx on rfoade ade2
(cost=0.00..7.63 rows=3 width=213) (actual time=0.007..0.037 rows=18
loops=6360)
Index Cond: ((ade2.rfoade_i_rfodstide)::text =
(dwhinv.dwhinv_p2rfodstide)::text)
-> Index Scan using rfoade_pk on rfoade ade1 (cost=0.00..3.98
rows=1 width=213) (actual time=0.008..0.009 rows=0 loops=114350)
Index Cond: (((ade1.rfoade___rforefide)::text =
(ade2.rfoade___rforefide)::text) AND ((ade1.rfoade_i_rfodstide)::text =
'ACTI'::text) AND ((ade1.rfoade___rfovdeide)::text =
(ade2.rfoade___rfovdeide)::text) AND (ade1.rfoadervs = ade2.rfoadervs))

We can see that the planner think that accessing dwhinv with the
dwhinv_rdi_idx index will return 1 row, but in fact there are 6360. So
the nested loop is not done with 1 loop but 6360. With only one Join,
the query runs in about 1.5 sec which is not really long, but with 8
join, the same mistake is repeated 8 times, the query runs in 30-60 sec.
I try to disable nested loop, hash join and merge join are done instead
of nested loops, example query runs in 0.2 - 0.5 sec, and the real query
no more that 1 sec ! Which is great.

Here is the execution plan with nested loop off:

GroupAggregate (cost=12.56..2453.94 rows=1 width=13) (actual
time=817.306..817.307 rows=1 loops=1)
-> Hash Join (cost=12.56..2453.93 rows=1 width=13) (actual
time=42.583..720.746 rows=42664 loops=1)
Hash Cond: (((ade2.rfoade___rforefide)::text =
(ade1.rfoade___rforefide)::text) AND ((ade2.rfoade___rfovdeide)::text =
(ade1.rfoade___rfovdeide)::text) AND (ade2.rfoadervs = ade1.rfoadervs))
Join Filter: (((ade2.rfoadegch)::text >= (ade1.rfoadegch)::text)
AND ((ade2.rfoadedrt)::text <= (ade1.rfoadedrt)::text))
-> Hash Join (cost=4.88..2446.21 rows=1 width=214) (actual
time=42.168..411.962 rows=114350 loops=1)
Hash Cond: ((ade2.rfoade_i_rfodstide)::text =
(dwhinv.dwhinv_p2rfodstide)::text)
-> Seq Scan on rfoade ade2 (cost=0.00..2262.05
rows=47805 width=213) (actual time=0.057..78.988 rows=47805 loops=1)
-> Hash (cost=4.87..4.87 rows=1 width=12) (actual
time=41.632..41.632 rows=6360 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using dwhinv_rdi_idx on dwhinv
(cost=0.00..4.87 rows=1 width=12) (actual time=0.232..28.199 rows=6360
loops=1)
Index Cond: (((dwhinv___rforefide)::text =
'HPLUS'::text) AND ((dwhinv___rfodomide)::text = 'PMSI'::text) AND
((dwhinv___rfoindide)::text = 'recN3_BB_reel'::text) AND
(dwhinv___rfoindrvs = 1))
-> Hash (cost=7.63..7.63 rows=3 width=213) (actual
time=0.347..0.347 rows=11 loops=1)
-> Index Scan using rfoade_dsi_idx on rfoade ade1
(cost=0.00..7.63 rows=3 width=213) (actual time=0.095..0.307 rows=11
loops=1)
Index Cond: ((rfoade_i_rfodstide)::text = 'ACTI'::text)

Even if dwhinv row estimation is wrong, the query is quicker

So after looking at dwhinv_rdi_idx statistics, I found that
dwhinv___rfoindide related stats wasn't good, so I try "ALTER TABLE
dwhinv ALTER dwhinv_p2rfodstide SET STATISTICS 2000" and launch an
vaccum analyse to gather more impressive stats. Stats are better but
query plan is the same and query is not optimised. So I try reindex on
DWHINV as a last chance, but it changes nothing !

Maybe I'm wrong with the interpretation of the plan but I don't really
think so because with no nested loops this query is really fast ! I do
not plan to disable nested loop on the whole database because sometimes,
nested loops are greats !

Now I'm stuck ! I don't know how to make the planner understand there
are 6000 rows. Or maybe the 3 column index is a bad idea... ?!

Thanks

--
HOSTIN Damien - Equipe R&D
Société Axège
www.axege.com