Seeking help with a query that takes too long

[I originally posted this using the wrong E-Mail account, so a double
posting may occur if the first message gets released by the moderator later-
sorry!]

Hi-

I have a query that I'm trying to speed up. I haven't been able to come up
with any workable ideas for speeding it up, so I'm seeking some input from
the list.

I'm using version 7.3.2

I have three tables:

case_data (1,947,386 rows)
actor (3,385,669 rows)
actor_case_assignment (8,668,650 rows)

As the names imply, actor_case_assignment contains records that assign an
actor to a case. Actors such as attorneys or judges may have many cases,
while the average actor (we hope) only has one.

What I'm trying to do is link these tables to get back a single row per
actor that shows the actor's name, the number of cases that actor is
assigned to, and if they only have one case, I want the public_id for that
case. This means I have to do a group by to get the case count, but I'm then
forced to use an aggregate function like max on the other fields.

All of the fields ending in "_id" have unique indexes, and
actor_full_name_uppercase is indexed. An analyze is done every night & the
database is fairly stable in it's composition.

Here's the select:

  select
    actor.actor_id,
    max(actor.actor_full_name),
    max(case_data.case_public_id),
    max(case_data.case_id),
    count(case_data.case_id) as case_count
  from
    actor,
    actor_case_assignment,
    case_data
  where
    actor.actor_full_name_uppercase like upper('sanders%')
    and actor.actor_id = actor_case_assignment.actor_id
    and case_data.case_id = actor_case_assignment.case_id
  group by
    actor.actor_id
  order by
    max(actor.actor_full_name),
    case_count desc
  limit
    1000;


Here's the explain analyze:


QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
 Limit  (cost=2214.71..2214.72 rows=1 width=115) (actual
time=120034.61..120035.67 rows=1000 loops=1)
   ->  Sort  (cost=2214.71..2214.72 rows=1 width=115) (actual
time=120034.60..120034.98 rows=1001 loops=1)
         Sort Key: max((actor.actor_full_name)::text),
count(case_data.case_id)
         ->  Aggregate  (cost=2214.67..2214.70 rows=1 width=115) (actual
time=119962.80..120011.49 rows=3456 loops=1)
               ->  Group  (cost=2214.67..2214.68 rows=2 width=115) (actual
time=119962.76..119987.04 rows=5879 loops=1)
                     ->  Sort  (cost=2214.67..2214.68 rows=2 width=115)
(actual time=119962.74..119965.09 rows=5879 loops=1)
                           Sort Key: actor.actor_id
                           ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..2214.66 rows=2
width=115) (actual time=59.05..119929.71 rows=5879 loops=1)
                                 ->  Nested Loop  (cost=0.00..2205.26 rows=3
width=76) (actual time=51.46..66089.04 rows=5882 loops=1)
                                       ->  Index Scan using
actor_full_name_uppercase on actor  (cost=0.00..6.01 rows=1 width=42)
(actual time=37.62..677.44 rows=3501 loops=1)
                                             Index Cond:
((actor_full_name_uppercase >= 'SANDERS'::character varying) AND
(actor_full_name_uppercase < 'SANDERT'::character varying))
                                             Filter:
(actor_full_name_uppercase ~~ 'SANDERS%'::text)
                                       ->  Index Scan using
actor_case_assignment_actor_id on actor_case_assignment  (cost=0.00..2165.93
rows=2666 width=34) (actual time=16.37..18.67 rows=2 loops=3501)
                                             Index Cond: ("outer".actor_id =
actor_case_assignment.actor_id)
                                 ->  Index Scan using case_data_case_id on
case_data  (cost=0.00..3.66 rows=1 width=39) (actual time=9.14..9.15 rows=1
loops=5882)
                                       Index Cond: (case_data.case_id =
"outer".case_id)
 Total runtime: 120038.60 msec
(17 rows)


Any ideas?

Thanks!
     -Nick


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Fankhauser

    nickf@doxpop.com  Phone 1.765.965.7363  Fax 1.765.962.9788
doxpop - Court records at your fingertips - http://www.doxpop.com/