Re: Massive performance issues

Ron <rjpeace@earthlink.net> writes:
> ...  Your target is to have each row take <= 512B.

Ron, are you assuming that the varchar fields are blank-padded or
something?  I think it's highly unlikely that he's got more than a
couple hundred bytes per row right now --- at least if the data is
what it sounds like.

The upthread comment about strcoll() set off some alarm bells in my head.
If the database wasn't initdb'd in C locale already, try making it so.
Also, use a single-byte encoding if you can (LatinX is fine, Unicode not).

> Upgrade pg to 8.0.3 and make sure you have enough RAM for your real
> day to day load.

Newer PG definitely better.  Some attention to the configuration
parameters might also be called for.  I fear though that these things
are probably just chipping at the margins ...

            regards, tom lane