PostgreSQL B-Tree Index Bloat & Understanding MVCC, Vacuum and how to monitor it

Hi all,

We are very happy to invite you all to a new "PostgreSQL User Group NL" Meetup.

Next to a great line-up we have an inspiring location: the B-Building next to the IBM headquarters in Amsterdam! B-Building is a creative workspace for innovation, education, and growth and a bridge between startups, creatives, and corporates.

As usual we offer the opportunity to participate in the Lightning Talks. If you have anything to share on the subject of PostgreSQL, please let us know and we are happy to give you the floor for 3 minutes.

We are very grateful to IBM for their hospitality!!

We are looking forward meeting you all on October 3rd..

Coen Hamers (Splendid Data)
Gerard Zuidweg (OptimaData)
*************

Our Agenda:

18.00 - 18:30
ARRIVAL

18:30
WELCOME

by Gerard en Coen

18:30 – 18.50:
THE OPEN AND POWERFULL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR YOUR POSTGRES (AND OTHER OPEN SOURCE BASED) ENVIRONMENT.

By: Vincent JH van Ovost and Tonny Bastiaans. Vincent is Hardware Technical Sales & Lab Services Manager and Tonny Product Manager POWER Systems and Technology at IBM BeNeLux

For various clients they built fully open infrastructure solutions and want to share their experiences with you.

18:50 – 19:15
B-TREE INDEX BLOAT, WHERE IT COMES FROM AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

By: Jeroen Soesbergen. Jeroen is a Postgres enthousiast and scrum master at Simacan. He has been a software engineer for more than ten years, working with Java, Scala and of course Postgres.

Jeroen will demonstrate how bad B-tree index bloat can really get. When an index is bloated, it means that it is taking up much more disk space than necessary. How much? In some situations over 50 times more. Jeroen will also explain where it comes from, and of course: What we can do about it.

19.15 – 20:00
UNDERSTANDING MVCC, VACUUM AND HOW TO MONITOR IT WITH THE PG_CATALOG

by Boriss Mejías, PostgreSQL Consultant and Trainer

When you update or delete a row in PostgreSQL, you are actually creating a new version of the row. PostgreSQL will make sure that your version of the row will always be visible to you while you are in the same transaction, respecting all the ACID properties that make PostgreSQL so powerful and reliable. This design still needs some maintenance to get rid of rows that are too old. That maintenance is called Vacuum.

After this talk you will be able to understand how MVCC, Vacuum and autovacuum works, and what you need to do to keep your database in good shape. We will also review how to monitor all this with the PostgreSQL Catalog.

20:00 – 20:15
Lightning Talks

20.15 – 21.00
Wrap up and get together with refreshments