Re: PostgreSQL

On Thu, 2 Feb 2006, Marcin Jessa wrote:

> I was wondering if any of you have experience with PostgreSQL's
> performance on NetBSD 3.0 or CURRENT compared to other open source
> O.S's.

I have been using PostgreSQL extensively on NetBSD since 7.3. I don't
have much comparison data, but what I do have indicates that performance
is roughly the same across NetBSD, FreeBSD and Linux, assuming similar
hardware and configuration. This isn't surprising since PostgreSQL
doesn't actually use much in the way of sophisticated services from the
OS. The most important thing would be the filesystem code.

Unless your database is very small (i.e., only a few GB) database, by
far the most important factor in performance will be the configuration
of your disk storage system and how you design your schema and queries.
The OS won't make anywhere near as much difference as either of those.

> What threading model will be used

PostgreSQL does not use threads; it uses a separate process for each
connection. So how well or poorly the OS performs with threads is
irrelevant.

BTW, it's best, if you're looking at PostgreSQL, not even to consider
data about MySQL's comparative performance on different OSes. MySQL is
a completely different animal--it's not in fact a real DBMS at all, but
more a dumb data storage system that can be queried with SQL. So the
underlying techniques it uses can be quite different.

Note that this was a bit heavily cross-posted; I've redirected responses
to tech-perform.

cjs
--

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Curt Sampson            <cjs <at> cynic.net>             +81 90 7737 2974
   The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
   by those who have not got it.    --George Bernard Shaw