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* DB benchmark and pg config file help
@ 2007-01-17 22:15 Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Kevin Hunter @ 2007-01-17 22:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pgsql-performance
Hello List,
Not sure to which list I should post (gray lines, and all that), so
point me in the right direction if'n it's a problem.
I am in the process of learning some of the art/science of benchmarking.
Given novnov's recent post about the comparison of MS SQL vs
PostgresQL, I felt it time to do a benchmark comparison of sorts for
myself . . . more for me and the benchmark learning process than the
DB's, but I'm interested in DB's in general, so it's a good fit. (If I
find anything interesting/new, I will of course share the results.)
Given that, I don't know what I'm doing. :| It seems initially that to
do it properly, I have to pick some sort of focus. In other words,
shall I benchmark from a standpoint of ACID compliance? Shall I
benchmark with functionality in mind? Ease of use/setup? Speed? The
latter seems to be done most widely/often, so I suspect it's the easiest
standpoint from which to work. Thus, for my initial foray into
benchmarking, I'll probably start there. (Unless of course, in any of
your wisdom, you can point me in a better direction.)
From my less-than-one-month-of-Postgres-list-lurking, I think I need to
be aware of at /least/ these items for my benchmarks (in no particular
order):
* overall speed (obvious)
* mitigating factors
- DB fits entirely in memory or not (page faults)
- DB size
- DB versions
* DB non-SELECT performance. A common point I see in comparisons of
MySQL and PostgresQL is that MySQL is much faster. However, I rarely
see anything other than comparison of SELECT.
* Query complexity (e.g. criteria, {,inner,outer}-joins)
ex. SELECT * FROM aTable; vs
SELECT
FUNC( var ),
...
FROM
tables
WHERE
x IN (<list>)
OR y BETWEEN
a
AND b ...
* Queries against tables/columns of varying data types. (BOOLEAN,
SMALLINT, TEXT, VARCHAR, etc.)
* Queries against tables with/out constraints
* Queries against tables with/out triggers {post,pre}-{non,}SELECT
* Transactions
* Individual and common functions (common use, not necessarily common
name, e.g. SUBSTRING/SUBSTR, MAX, COUNT, ORDER BY w/{,o} LIMIT).
* Performance under load (e.g. 1, 10, 100 concurrent users),
- need to delineate how DB's handle concurrent queries against the
same tuples AND against different tuples/tables.
* Access method (e.g. Thru C libs, via PHP/Postgres libs, apache/web,
command line and stdin scripts)
# I don't currently have access to a RAID setup, so this will all have
to be on single hard drive for now. Perhaps later I can procure more
hardware/situations with which to test.
Clearly, this is only a small portion of what I should be aware when I'm
benchmarking different DB's in terms of speed/performance, and already
it's feeling daunting. Feel free to add any/all items about which I'm
not thinking.
The other thing: as I'm still a bit of a noob, all my use of the
Postgres DB has been -- for the most part -- with the stock
configuration. Since I'm planning to run these tests on the same
hardware, I can pseudo-rule out hardware-related differences in the
results. However, I'm hoping that I can give my stats/assumptions to
the list and someone would give me a configuration file that would /most
likely/ be best? I can search the documentation/archives, but I'm
hoping to get head start and tweak from there.
Any and all advice would be /much/ appreciated!
Kevin
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: DB benchmark and pg config file help
@ 2007-01-19 13:45 Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>
parent: Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Merlin Moncure @ 2007-01-19 13:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>; +Cc: pgsql-performance
On 1/17/07, Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu> wrote:
> Hello List,
>
> Not sure to which list I should post (gray lines, and all that), so
> point me in the right direction if'n it's a problem.
>
> I am in the process of learning some of the art/science of benchmarking.
> Given novnov's recent post about the comparison of MS SQL vs
> PostgresQL, I felt it time to do a benchmark comparison of sorts for
> myself . . . more for me and the benchmark learning process than the
> DB's, but I'm interested in DB's in general, so it's a good fit. (If I
> find anything interesting/new, I will of course share the results.)
Just remember that all the major commercial databases have
anti-benchmark clauses in their license agreements. So, if you decide
to publish your results (especially in a formal benchmark), you can't
mention the big boys by name. [yes this is cowardice]
merlin
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: DB benchmark and pg config file help
@ 2007-01-19 14:05 Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
parent: Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Kevin Hunter @ 2007-01-19 14:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance
On 19 Jan 2007 at 8:45a -0500, Merlin Moncure wrote:
> On 1/17/07, Kevin Hunter [hunteke∈earlham.edu] wrote:
>> I am in the process of learning some of the art/science of benchmarking.
>> Given novnov's recent post about the comparison of MS SQL vs
>> PostgresQL, I felt it time to do a benchmark comparison of sorts for
>> myself . . . more for me and the benchmark learning process than the
>> DB's, but I'm interested in DB's in general, so it's a good fit. (If I
>> find anything interesting/new, I will of course share the results.)
>
> Just remember that all the major commercial databases have
> anti-benchmark clauses in their license agreements. So, if you decide
> to publish your results (especially in a formal benchmark), you can't
> mention the big boys by name. [yes this is cowardice]
"Anti-benchmark clauses in the license agreements"?!? Cowardice indeed!
<wry_look>So, by implication, I should do my benchmarking with
"borrowed" copies, right? No sale, no agreement . . . </wry_look>
Seriously though, that would have bitten me. Thank you, I did not know
that. Does that mean that I can't publish the results outside of my
work/research/personal unit at all? Or do I just need to obscure about
which DB I'm talking? (Like Vendor {1,2,3,...} Product).
Appreciatively,
Kevin
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: DB benchmark and pg config file help
@ 2007-01-19 16:52 Bruno Wolff III <bruno@wolff.to>
parent: Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Bruno Wolff III @ 2007-01-19 16:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>; +Cc: Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>; pgsql-performance
On Fri, Jan 19, 2007 at 09:05:35 -0500,
Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu> wrote:
>
> Seriously though, that would have bitten me. Thank you, I did not know
> that. Does that mean that I can't publish the results outside of my
> work/research/personal unit at all? Or do I just need to obscure about
> which DB I'm talking? (Like Vendor {1,2,3,...} Product).
Check with your lawyer. Depending on where you are, those clauses may not even
be valid.
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: DB benchmark and pg config file help
@ 2007-01-19 21:40 Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
parent: Bruno Wolff III <bruno@wolff.to>
0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Kevin Hunter @ 2007-01-19 21:40 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Bruno Wolff III <bruno@wolff.to>; +Cc: Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>; pgsql-performance
On 19 Jan 2007 at 10:56a -0600, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 19, 2007 at 09:05:35 -0500,
> Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu> wrote:
>> Seriously though, that would have bitten me. Thank you, I did not know
>> that. Does that mean that I can't publish the results outside of my
>> work/research/personal unit at all? Or do I just need to obscure about
>> which DB I'm talking? (Like Vendor {1,2,3,...} Product).
>
> Check with your lawyer. Depending on where you are, those clauses may not even
> be valid.
<grins />
/me = student => no money . . . lawyer? You /are/ my lawyers. ;)
Well, sounds like America's legal system/red tape will at least slow my
efforts against the non-open source DBs, until I get a chance to find
out for sure.
I really do appreciate the warnings/heads ups.
Kevin
BTW: I'm currently located in Richmond, IN, USA. A pin for someone's
map. :)
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2007-01-19 21:40 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages (download: mbox mbox.gz follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2007-01-17 22:15 DB benchmark and pg config file help Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
2007-01-19 13:45 ` Merlin Moncure <mmoncure@gmail.com>
2007-01-19 14:05 ` Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
2007-01-19 16:52 ` Bruno Wolff III <bruno@wolff.to>
2007-01-19 21:40 ` Kevin Hunter <hunteke@earlham.edu>
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