Slow query in trigger function

Hello,

I´ve got a table custom_data which essentially contains a number of key/value pairs. This table holds a large number (about 40M) of records and I need the distinct keys and values for some reasons. Selecting those distinct data takes a couple of seconds, so I decided to maintain a separate lookup table for both the key and value data. The lookup tables are maintained by a trigger that reacts on inserts/updates/deletes on the original table. While checking the correctness of my trigger function I noticed that the SQL query in the trigger function is surprisingly slow, taking about 5-6 seconds. When I ran the SQL query outside the trigger function it showed the expected performance and returned in a couple of milliseconds. Though the original table is very large it holds only a small number of distinct key / value values:

SELECT DISTINCT key FROM custom_data;
>> 12 rows returned

SELECT DISTINCT value FROM custom_data;
>> 13 rows returned

Here are the relveant information (function body of the trigger function reduced to show the behaviour):

PostgreSQL Version:
PostgreSQL 9.1.13, compiled by Visual C++ build 1500, 64-bit

OS Version:
Windows 7 64bit

Scenario to reproduce the behaviour:
EMS Solution SQL Manager: SQL Editor used to run SQL commands from an editor

Server configuration:
name current_setting source
DateStyle ISO, DMY session
default_text_search_config pg_catalog.german configuration file
effective_cache_size 8GB configuration file
lc_messages German_Germany.1252 configuration file
lc_monetary German_Germany.1252 configuration file
lc_numeric German_Germany.1252 configuration file
lc_time German_Germany.1252 configuration file
listen_addresses * configuration file
log_destination stderr configuration file
log_line_prefix %t configuration file
log_timezone CET environment variable
logging_collector on configuration file
max_connections 100 configuration file
max_stack_depth 2MB environment variable
port 5432 configuration file
shared_buffers 4GB configuration file
statement_timeout 0 session
TimeZone CET environment variable
work_mem 64MB configuration file

custom_data table definition:
CREATE TABLE public.custom_data (
custom_data_id SERIAL,
file_id INTEGER DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
user_id INTEGER DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
"timestamp" TIMESTAMP(0) WITHOUT TIME ZONE DEFAULT '1970-01-01 00:00:00'::timestamp without time zone NOT NULL,
key TEXT DEFAULT ''::text NOT NULL,
value TEXT DEFAULT ''::text NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT pkey_custom_data PRIMARY KEY(custom_data_id),
) WITHOUT OIDS;

CREATE INDEX idx_custom_data_key ON public.custom_data USING btree (key);

CREATE INDEX idx_custom_data_value ON public.custom_data USING btree (value);

CREATE TRIGGER on_custom_data_changed AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE
ON public.custom_data FOR EACH ROW
EXECUTE PROCEDURE public.on_change_custom_data();

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION public.on_change_custom_data ()
RETURNS trigger AS
$body$
BEGIN
IF TG_OP = 'UPDATE' THEN
RAISE NOTICE 'Check custom data key start : %', timeofday();
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM custom_data WHERE key = OLD.key ) THEN
END IF;
RAISE NOTICE 'Check custom data key end : %', timeofday();
END IF;
RETURN NULL;
END;
$body$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql'
VOLATILE CALLED ON NULL INPUT SECURITY INVOKER COST 100;

postgreSQL log:
HINWEIS: Check custom data key start : Fri Oct 30 11:56:41.785000 2015 CET << start of IF NOT EXIST (...)
HINWEIS: Check custom data key end : Fri Oct 30 11:56:47.145000 2015 CET << end of IF NOT EXISTS (...) : ~5.4 seconds

Query OK, 1 rows affected (5,367 sec)

Same query run in SQL editor:
SELECT 1 FROM custom_data WHERE key='key-1'
1 rows returned (16 ms)

As you can see there´s a huge runtime difference between the select query used in the trigger function and the one run from the SQL editor.

Guido Niewerth

25 years inspired synergy
OCS Optical Control Systems GmbH
Wullener Feld 24
58454 Witten
Germany

Tel: +49 (0) 2302 95622-0
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Email: gniewerth(at)ocsgmbh(dot)com
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