Comparing database optimisation techniques in PostgreSQL : Indexes, query writing and the query optimiser

Sammanfattning: Databases are all around us, and ensuring their efficiency is of great importance. Database optimisation has many parts and many methods, two of these parts are database tuning and database optimisation. These can then further be split into methods such as indexing. These indexing techniques have been studied and compared between Database Management Systems (DBMSs) to see how much they can improve the execution time for queries. And many guides have been written on how to implement query optimisation and indexes. In this thesis, the question "How does indexing and query optimisation affect response time in PostgreSQL?" is posed, and was answered by investigating these previous studies and theory to find different optimisation techniques and compare them to each other. The purpose of this research was to provide more information about how optimisation techniques can be implemented and map out when what method should be used. This was partly done to provide learning material for students, but also people who are starting to learn PostgreSQL. This was done through a literature study, and an experiment performed on a database with different table sizes to see how the optimisation scales to larger systems. What was found was that there are many use cases to optimisation that mainly depend on the query performed and the type of data. From both the literature study and the experiment, the main take-away points are that indexes can vastly improve performance, but if used incorrectly can also slow it. The main use cases for indexes are for short queries and also for queries using spatio-temporal data - although spatio-temporal data should be researched more. Using the DBMS optimiser did not show any difference in execution time for queries, while correctly implemented query tuning techniques also vastly improved execution time. The main use cases for query tuning are for long queries and nested queries. Although, most systems benefit from some sort of query tuning, as it does not have to cost much in terms of memory or CPU cycles, in comparison to how indexes add additional overhead and need some memory. Implementing proper optimisation techniques could improve both costs, and help with environmental sustainability by more effectively utilising resources.