Pg_freespacemap - Real time queries on the free space map (FSM). --------------- This module consists of two C functions: 'pg_freespacemap_relations()' and 'pg_freespacemap_pages()' that return a set of records, plus two views 'pg_freespacemap_relations' and 'pg_freespacemap_pages' for more user-friendly access to the functions. The module provides the ability to examine the contents of the free space map, without having to restart or rebuild the server with additional debugging code. By default public access is REVOKED from the functions and views, just in case there are security issues present in the code. Installation ------------ Build and install the main Postgresql source, then this contrib module: $ cd contrib/pg_freespacemap $ gmake $ gmake install To register the functions and views: $ psql -d -f pg_freespacemap.sql Notes ----- The definitions for the columns exposed in the views are: pg_freespacemap_relations Column | references | Description ----------------+----------------------+------------------------------------ reltablespace | pg_tablespace.oid | Tablespace oid of the relation. reldatabase | pg_database.oid | Database for the relation. relfilenode | pg_class.relfilenode | Refilenode of the relation. avgrequest | | Moving average of free space | | requests. lastpagecount | | Count of pages examined for useful | | free space. nextpage | | page index (from 0) to start next | | search at. pg_freespacemap_pages Column | references | Description ----------------+----------------------+------------------------------------ reltablespace | pg_tablespace.oid | Tablespace oid of the relation. reldatabase | pg_database.oid | Database for the relation. relfilenode | pg_class.relfilenode | Refilenode of the relation. relblocknumber | | Page offset in the relation. bytes | | Free bytes in the page, or NULL | | for an index page (see below). For pg_freespacemap_relations, there is one row for each relation in the free space map. For pg_freespacemap_pages, there is one row for each page in the free space map. Because the map is shared by all the databases, there are relations and pages from relations not belonging to the current database. The view 'freespacemap_pages' can contain pages for btree indexes if they were emptied by a vacuum process. The bytes field is set to NULL in this case. When either of the views are accessed, internal free space map locks are taken, and a copy of the map data is made for them to display. This ensures that the views produce a consistent set of results, while not blocking normal activity longer than necessary. Nonetheless there could be some impact on database performance if they are read often. Sample output - pg_freespacemap_relations ------------- regression=# \d pg_freespacemap_relations View "public.pg_freespacemap_relations" Column | Type | Modifiers ---------------+---------+----------- reltablespace | oid | reldatabase | oid | relfilenode | oid | avgrequest | bigint | lastpagecount | integer | nextpage | integer | View definition: SELECT p.reltablespace, p.reldatabase, p.relfilenode, p.avgrequest, p.lastpagecount, p.nextpage FROM pg_freespacemap_relations() p(reltablespace oid, reldatabase oid, relfilenode oid, avgrequest bigint, lastpagecount integer, nextpage integer); regression=# SELECT c.relname, r.avgrequest, r.lastpagecount, r.nextpage FROM pg_freespacemap_relations r INNER JOIN pg_class c ON c.relfilenode = r.relfilenode INNER JOIN pg_database d ON r.reldatabase = d.oid AND (d.datname = current_database()) ORDER BY c.relname LIMIT 10; relname | avgrequest | lastpagecount | nextpage --------------+------------+---------------+---------- a_star | 250 | 1 | 0 abstime_tbl | 249 | 1 | 0 aggtest | 250 | 1 | 0 altinhoid | 250 | 1 | 0 altstartwith | 250 | 1 | 0 arrtest | 254 | 1 | 0 b_star | 250 | 1 | 0 box_tbl | 250 | 1 | 0 bt_f8_heap | 92 | 1 | 0 bt_i4_heap | 94 | 1 | 0 (10 rows) regression=# Sample output - pg_freespacemap_pages ------------- regression=# \d pg_freespacemap_pages; View "public.pg_freespacemap_pages" Column | Type | Modifiers ----------------+---------+----------- reltablespace | oid | reldatabase | oid | relfilenode | oid | relblocknumber | bigint | bytes | integer | View definition: SELECT p.reltablespace, p.reldatabase, p.relfilenode, p.relblocknumber, p.bytes FROM pg_freespacemap_pages() p(reltablespace oid, reldatabase oid, relfilenode oid, relblocknumber bigint, bytes integer); regression=# SELECT c.relname, p.relblocknumber, p.bytes FROM pg_freespacemap_pages p INNER JOIN pg_class c ON c.relfilenode = p.relfilenode INNER JOIN pg_database d ON (p.reldatabase = d.oid AND d.datname = current_database()) ORDER BY c.relname LIMIT 10; relname | relblocknumber | bytes --------------+----------------+------- a_star | 0 | 8040 abstime_tbl | 0 | 7908 aggtest | 0 | 8008 altinhoid | 0 | 8128 altstartwith | 0 | 8128 arrtest | 0 | 7172 b_star | 0 | 7976 box_tbl | 0 | 7912 bt_f8_heap | 54 | 7728 bt_i4_heap | 49 | 8008 (10 rows) regression=# Author ------ * Mark Kirkwood