Mark,
you could try gevel module to get structure of GIST index and look if
items distributed more or less homogenous (see different levels).
You can visualize index like http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/wiki/Rtree_Index
Also, if your searches are neighbourhood searches, them you could try knn, available
in 9.1 development version.
Oleg
On Thu, 3 Feb 2011, Mark Stosberg wrote:
>
> Each night we run over a 100,000 "saved searches" against PostgreSQL
> 9.0.x. These are all complex SELECTs using "cube" functions to perform a
> geo-spatial search to help people find adoptable pets at shelters.
>
> All of our machines in development in production have at least 2 cores
> in them, and I'm wondering about the best way to maximally engage all
> the processors.
>
> Now we simply run the searches in serial. I realize PostgreSQL may be
> taking advantage of the multiple cores some in this arrangement, but I'm
> seeking advice about the possibility and methods for running the
> searches in parallel.
>
> One naive I approach I considered was to use parallel cron scripts. One
> would run the "odd" searches and the other would run the "even"
> searches. This would be easy to implement, but perhaps there is a better
> way. To those who have covered this area already, what's the best way
> to put multiple cores to use when running repeated SELECTs with PostgreSQL?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
>
>
>
Regards,
Oleg
_____________________________________________________________
Oleg Bartunov, Research Scientist, Head of AstroNet (www.astronet.ru),
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow University, Russia
Internet: oleg@sai.msu.su, http://www.sai.msu.su/~megera/
phone: +007(495)939-16-83, +007(495)939-23-83