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CLUSTER(7)			 SQL Commands			    CLUSTER(7)

NAME
       CLUSTER - cluster a table according to an index

SYNOPSIS
       CLUSTER [VERBOSE] tablename [ USING indexname ]
       CLUSTER [VERBOSE]

DESCRIPTION
       CLUSTER	instructs  PostgreSQL to cluster the table specified by table‐
       name based on the index specified by indexname. The index must  already
       have been defined on tablename.

       When  a	table  is  clustered,  it is physically reordered based on the
       index information. Clustering is a one-time operation: when  the	 table
       is  subsequently	 updated,  the	changes are not clustered. That is, no
       attempt is made to store new or updated rows according to  their	 index
       order.  (If  one	 wishes, one can periodically recluster by issuing the
       command again. Also, setting the table's FILLFACTOR  storage  parameter
       to  less	 than  100%  can  aid  in  preserving  cluster ordering during
       updates, since updated rows are preferentially kept on the same page.)

       When a table is clustered, PostgreSQL  remembers	 which	index  it  was
       clustered by. The form CLUSTER tablename reclusters the table using the
       same index as before.

       CLUSTER without any parameter reclusters all  the  previously-clustered
       tables  in the current database that the calling user owns, or all such
       tables if called by a superuser. This form of CLUSTER  cannot  be  exe‐
       cuted inside a transaction block.

       When  a	table is being clustered, an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock is acquired
       on it. This prevents any other  database	 operations  (both  reads  and
       writes) from operating on the table until the CLUSTER is finished.

PARAMETERS
       tablename
	      The name (possibly schema-qualified) of a table.

       indexname
	      The name of an index.

       VERBOSE
	      Prints a progress report as each table is clustered.

NOTES
       In  cases  where you are accessing single rows randomly within a table,
       the actual order of the data in the table is unimportant.  However,  if
       you  tend  to  access some data more than others, and there is an index
       that groups them together, you will benefit from using CLUSTER.	If you
       are  requesting	a  range  of  indexed values from a table, or a single
       indexed value that has multiple rows  that  match,  CLUSTER  will  help
       because once the index identifies the table page for the first row that
       matches, all other rows that match are probably already on the same ta‐
       ble page, and so you save disk accesses and speed up the query.

       During  the cluster operation, a temporary copy of the table is created
       that contains the table data in the index order.	 Temporary  copies  of
       each  index  on the table are created as well. Therefore, you need free
       space on disk at least equal to the sum of the table size and the index
       sizes.

       Because	CLUSTER	 remembers the clustering information, one can cluster
       the tables one wants clustered manually the first  time,	 and  setup  a
       timed  event  similar  to  VACUUM  so  that the tables are periodically
       reclustered.

       Because the planner records statistics about the ordering of tables, it
       is  advisable to run ANALYZE [analyze(7)] on the newly clustered table.
       Otherwise, the planner might make poor choices of query plans.

       There is another way to cluster data. The CLUSTER command reorders  the
       original	 table by scanning it using the index you specify. This can be
       slow on large tables because the rows are fetched  from	the  table  in
       index  order, and if the table is disordered, the entries are on random
       pages, so there is one disk page retrieved for every row moved.	(Post‐
       greSQL has a cache, but the majority of a big table will not fit in the
       cache.)	The other way to cluster a table is to use:

       CREATE TABLE newtable AS
	   SELECT * FROM table ORDER BY columnlist;

       which uses the PostgreSQL sorting code to produce  the  desired	order;
       this  is	 usually  much	faster than an index scan for disordered data.
       Then you drop the old table, use	 ALTER	TABLE  ...  RENAME  to	rename
       newtable	 to  the  old name, and recreate the table's indexes.  The big
       disadvantage of this approach is that it does not preserve  OIDs,  con‐
       straints,  foreign  key	relationships,	granted	 privileges, and other
       ancillary properties of the table — all such  items  must  be  manually
       recreated. Another disadvantage is that this way requires a sort tempo‐
       rary file about the same size as the table itself, so peak  disk	 usage
       is about three times the table size instead of twice the table size.

EXAMPLES
       Cluster the table employees on the basis of its index employees_ind:

       CLUSTER employees USING employees_ind;

       Cluster the employees table using the same index that was used before:

       CLUSTER employees;

       Cluster all tables in the database that have previously been clustered:

       CLUSTER;

COMPATIBILITY
       There is no CLUSTER statement in the SQL standard.

       The syntax

       CLUSTER indexname ON tablename

       is also supported for compatibility with pre-8.3 PostgreSQL versions.

SEE ALSO
       clusterdb [clusterdb(1)]

SQL - Language Statements	  2010-10-01			    CLUSTER(7)
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