Improve documentation for contrib/bloom.

Michael Paquier, David Johnston, Tom Lane

Discussion: <CAB7nPqQB8dcFmY1uodmiJOSZdhBFOx-us-uW6rfYrzhpEiBR2g@mail.gmail.com>
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Tom Lane 2016-06-07 12:19:18 -04:00
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</indexterm> </indexterm>
<para> <para>
<literal>bloom</> is a module that implements an index access method. It comes <literal>bloom</> provides an index access method based on
as an example of custom access methods and generic WAL record usage. But it <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter">Bloom filters</ulink>.
is also useful in itself.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
The implementation of a
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter">Bloom filter</ulink>
allows fast exclusion of non-candidate tuples via signatures.
Since a signature is a lossy representation of all indexed attributes,
search results must be rechecked using heap information.
The user can specify signature length in bits (default 80, maximum 4096)
and the number of bits generated for each index column (default 2,
maximum 4095).
</para> </para>
<para> <para>
This index is useful if a table has many attributes and queries include A Bloom filter is a space-efficient data structure that is used to test
arbitrary combinations of them. A traditional <literal>btree</> index is whether an element is a member of a set. In the case of an index access
faster than a bloom index, but it can require many indexes to support all method, it allows fast exclusion of non-matching tuples via signatures
possible queries where one needs only a single bloom index. A Bloom index whose size is determined at index creation.
supports only equality comparison. Since it's a signature file, and not a </para>
tree, it always must be read fully, but sequentially, so that index search
performance is constant and doesn't depend on a query. <para>
A signature is a lossy representation of the indexed attribute(s), and as
such is prone to reporting false positives; that is, it may be reported
that an element is in the set, when it is not. So index search results
must always be rechecked using the actual attribute values from the heap
entry. Larger signatures reduce the odds of a false positive and thus
reduce the number of useless heap visits, but of course also make the index
larger and hence slower to scan.
</para>
<para>
This type of index is most useful when a table has many attributes and
queries test arbitrary combinations of them. A traditional btree index is
faster than a bloom index, but it can require many btree indexes to support
all possible queries where one needs only a single bloom index. Note
however that bloom indexes only support equality queries, whereas btree
indexes can also perform inequality and range searches.
</para> </para>
</sect2>
<sect2> <sect2>
<title>Parameters</title> <title>Parameters</title>
<para> <para>
<literal>bloom</> indexes accept the following parameters in the A <literal>bloom</> index accepts the following parameters in its
<literal>WITH</> <literal>WITH</> clause:
clause.
</para> </para>
<variablelist> <variablelist>
@ -52,7 +51,8 @@
<term><literal>length</></term> <term><literal>length</></term>
<listitem> <listitem>
<para> <para>
Length of signature in bits Length of each signature (index entry) in bits. The default
is <literal>80</> bits and maximum is <literal>4096</>.
</para> </para>
</listitem> </listitem>
</varlistentry> </varlistentry>
@ -62,7 +62,10 @@
<term><literal>col1 &mdash; col32</></term> <term><literal>col1 &mdash; col32</></term>
<listitem> <listitem>
<para> <para>
Number of bits generated for each index column Number of bits generated for each index column. Each parameter's name
refers to the number of the index column that it controls. The default
is <literal>2</> bits and maximum is <literal>4095</>. Parameters for
index columns not actually used are ignored.
</para> </para>
</listitem> </listitem>
</varlistentry> </varlistentry>
@ -73,7 +76,7 @@
<title>Examples</title> <title>Examples</title>
<para> <para>
An example of an index definition is given below. This is an example of creating a bloom index:
</para> </para>
<programlisting> <programlisting>
@ -82,92 +85,135 @@ CREATE INDEX bloomidx ON tbloom USING bloom (i1,i2,i3)
</programlisting> </programlisting>
<para> <para>
Here, we created a bloom index with a signature length of 80 bits, The index is created with a signature length of 80 bits, with attributes
and attributes i1 and i2 mapped to 2 bits, and attribute i3 mapped to 4 bits. i1 and i2 mapped to 2 bits, and attribute i3 mapped to 4 bits. We could
have omitted the <literal>length</>, <literal>col1</>,
and <literal>col2</> specifications since those have the default values.
</para> </para>
<para> <para>
Here is a fuller example of index definition and usage: Here is a more complete example of bloom index definition and usage, as
well as a comparison with equivalent btree indexes. The bloom index is
considerably smaller than the btree index, and can perform better.
</para> </para>
<programlisting> <programlisting>
CREATE TABLE tbloom AS =# CREATE TABLE tbloom AS
SELECT SELECT
random()::int as i1, (random() * 1000000)::int as i1,
random()::int as i2, (random() * 1000000)::int as i2,
random()::int as i3, (random() * 1000000)::int as i3,
random()::int as i4, (random() * 1000000)::int as i4,
random()::int as i5, (random() * 1000000)::int as i5,
random()::int as i6, (random() * 1000000)::int as i6
random()::int as i7,
random()::int as i8,
random()::int as i9,
random()::int as i10,
random()::int as i11,
random()::int as i12,
random()::int as i13
FROM FROM
generate_series(1,1000); generate_series(1,10000000);
CREATE INDEX bloomidx ON tbloom USING SELECT 10000000
bloom (i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8, i9, i10, i11, i12); =# CREATE INDEX bloomidx ON tbloom USING bloom (i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6);
SELECT pg_relation_size('bloomidx'); CREATE INDEX
CREATE index btree_idx ON tbloom(i1,i2,i3,i4,i5,i6,i7,i8,i9,i10,i11,i12); =# SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size('bloomidx'));
SELECT pg_relation_size('btree_idx'); pg_size_pretty
----------------
153 MB
(1 row)
=# CREATE index btreeidx ON tbloom (i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6);
CREATE INDEX
=# SELECT pg_size_pretty(pg_relation_size('btreeidx'));
pg_size_pretty
----------------
387 MB
(1 row)
</programlisting> </programlisting>
<para>
A sequential scan over this large table takes a long time:
<programlisting> <programlisting>
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 20 AND i10 = 15; =# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
QUERY PLAN QUERY PLAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bitmap Heap Scan on tbloom (cost=1.50..5.52 rows=1 width=52) (actual time=0.057..0.057 rows=0 loops=1) Seq Scan on tbloom (cost=0.00..213694.08 rows=1 width=24) (actual time=1445.438..1445.438 rows=0 loops=1)
Recheck Cond: ((i2 = 20) AND (i10 = 15)) Filter: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
-> Bitmap Index Scan on bloomidx (cost=0.00..1.50 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=0.041..0.041 rows=9 loops=1) Rows Removed by Filter: 10000000
Index Cond: ((i2 = 20) AND (i10 = 15)) Planning time: 0.177 ms
Total runtime: 0.081 ms Execution time: 1445.473 ms
(5 rows) (5 rows)
</programlisting> </programlisting>
<para>
Seqscan is slow.
</para> </para>
<programlisting>
=# SET enable_bitmapscan = off;
=# SET enable_indexscan = off;
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 20 AND i10 = 15;
QUERY PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seq Scan on tbloom (cost=0.00..25.00 rows=1 width=52) (actual time=0.162..0.162 rows=0 loops=1)
Filter: ((i2 = 20) AND (i10 = 15))
Total runtime: 0.181 ms
(3 rows)
</programlisting>
<para> <para>
A btree index will be not used for this query. So the planner will usually select an index scan if possible.
With a btree index, we get results like this:
<programlisting>
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
QUERY PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Index Only Scan using btreeidx on tbloom (cost=0.56..298311.96 rows=1 width=24) (actual time=445.709..445.709 rows=0 loops=1)
Index Cond: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
Heap Fetches: 0
Planning time: 0.193 ms
Execution time: 445.770 ms
(5 rows)
</programlisting>
</para> </para>
<para>
Bloom is better than btree in handling this type of search:
<programlisting> <programlisting>
=# DROP INDEX bloomidx; =# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
=# CREATE INDEX btree_idx ON tbloom(i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8, i9, i10, i11, i12);
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 20 AND i10 = 15;
QUERY PLAN QUERY PLAN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seq Scan on tbloom (cost=0.00..25.00 rows=1 width=52) (actual time=0.210..0.210 rows=0 loops=1) Bitmap Heap Scan on tbloom (cost=178435.39..178439.41 rows=1 width=24) (actual time=76.698..76.698 rows=0 loops=1)
Filter: ((i2 = 20) AND (i10 = 15)) Recheck Cond: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
Total runtime: 0.250 ms Rows Removed by Index Recheck: 2439
(3 rows) Heap Blocks: exact=2408
-&gt; Bitmap Index Scan on bloomidx (cost=0.00..178435.39 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=72.455..72.455 rows=2439 loops=1)
Index Cond: ((i2 = 898732) AND (i5 = 123451))
Planning time: 0.475 ms
Execution time: 76.778 ms
(8 rows)
</programlisting> </programlisting>
Note the relatively large number of false positives: 2439 rows were
selected to be visited in the heap, but none actually matched the
query. We could reduce that by specifying a larger signature length.
In this example, creating the index with <literal>length=200</>
reduced the number of false positives to 55; but it doubled the index size
(to 306 MB) and ended up being slower for this query (125 ms overall).
</para>
<para>
Now, the main problem with the btree search is that btree is inefficient
when the search conditions do not constrain the leading index column(s).
A better strategy for btree is to create a separate index on each column.
Then the planner will choose something like this:
<programlisting>
=# EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM tbloom WHERE i2 = 898732 AND i5 = 123451;
QUERY PLAN
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bitmap Heap Scan on tbloom (cost=9.29..13.30 rows=1 width=24) (actual time=0.148..0.148 rows=0 loops=1)
Recheck Cond: ((i5 = 123451) AND (i2 = 898732))
-&gt; BitmapAnd (cost=9.29..9.29 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=0.145..0.145 rows=0 loops=1)
-&gt; Bitmap Index Scan on tbloom_i5_idx (cost=0.00..4.52 rows=11 width=0) (actual time=0.089..0.089 rows=10 loops=1)
Index Cond: (i5 = 123451)
-&gt; Bitmap Index Scan on tbloom_i2_idx (cost=0.00..4.52 rows=11 width=0) (actual time=0.048..0.048 rows=8 loops=1)
Index Cond: (i2 = 898732)
Planning time: 2.049 ms
Execution time: 0.280 ms
(9 rows)
</programlisting>
Although this query runs much faster than with either of the single
indexes, we pay a large penalty in index size. Each of the single-column
btree indexes occupies 214 MB, so the total space needed is over 1.2GB,
more than 8 times the space used by the bloom index.
</para>
</sect2> </sect2>
<sect2> <sect2>
<title>Opclass interface</title> <title>Operator Class Interface</title>
<para> <para>
The Bloom opclass interface is simple. It requires 1 supporting function: An operator class for bloom indexes requires only a hash function for the
a hash function for the indexing datatype. It provides 1 search operator: indexed datatype and an equality operator for searching. This example
the equality operator. The example below shows <literal>opclass</> shows the opclass definition for the <type>text</> data type:
definition for <literal>text</> datatype.
</para> </para>
<programlisting> <programlisting>
@ -179,22 +225,21 @@ DEFAULT FOR TYPE text USING bloom AS
</sect2> </sect2>
<sect2> <sect2>
<title>Limitation</title> <title>Limitations</title>
<para> <para>
<itemizedlist> <itemizedlist>
<listitem> <listitem>
<para> <para>
For now, only opclasses for <literal>int4</>, <literal>text</> come Only operator classes for <type>int4</> and <type>text</> are
with the module. However, users may define more of them. included with the module.
</para> </para>
</listitem> </listitem>
<listitem> <listitem>
<para> <para>
Only the <literal>=</literal> operator is supported for search at the Only the <literal>=</literal> operator is supported for search. But
moment. But it's possible to add support for arrays with contains and it is possible to add support for arrays with union and intersection
intersection operations in the future. operations in the future.
</para> </para>
</listitem> </listitem>
</itemizedlist> </itemizedlist>