Articles by Shiv Iyer

About Shiv Iyer

Open Source Database Systems Engineer with a deep understanding of Optimizer Internals, Performance Engineering, Scalability and Data SRE. Shiv currently is the Founder, Investor, Board Member and CEO of multiple Database Systems Infrastructure Operations companies in the Transaction Processing Computing and ColumnStores ecosystem. He is also a frequent speaker in open source software conferences globally.

How to determine if a string is alphanumeric in PostgreSQL?

In PostgreSQL, you can use the isalnum function to determine if a string is alphanumeric or not. The isalnum function returns TRUE if all characters in the string are either alphabetic or numeric, and FALSE […]

How to increase the Maximum Number of Columns for a Table in PostgreSQL?

In PostgreSQL, the maximum number of columns for a table is limited by the system configuration parameter MaxTupleAttributeNumber, which is set to 1664 by default. However, it is possible to increase this limit by modifying […]

Prevent errors during object creation and removal using the IF [NOT] EXISTS DDL clause in PostgreSQL

The IF [NOT] EXISTS DDL clause is a useful feature in PostgreSQL that can help prevent errors during object creation and removal. This clause allows database administrators to specify whether or not to create or […]

Index Wildcard in PostgreSQL

Index wildcard is a technique used in PostgreSQL to create an index on a partial string in a column, rather than indexing the entire column. This technique can improve query performance when searching for data […]

Simple steps for implementing optimal SQL programs in PostgreSQL

The SQL parser in PostgreSQL is implemented using a combination of lexical analysis, syntax analysis, semantic analysis, and code generation. The parser first converts the input SQL text into tokens, and then performs syntax and […]

Troubleshooting PostgreSQL Query Performance

Monitoring query latency, wait events, and locks in PostgreSQL helps identify and diagnose performance bottlenecks. Here’s a guide on how to monitor these aspects: Here’s a sample query to gather information about locks, wait events, […]

The InnoDB history list length increased significantly – What to do next?

Introduction The InnoDB history list length can grow significantly if there are long-running transactions that generate a lot of undo logs or if there are frequent transactions with large amounts of data being modified. This […]

Tuning UNDO Operations in MySQL

In MySQL, undo operations are used to provide transactional consistency and to allow for rolling back changes made to the database during a transaction. Undo operations are implemented in the InnoDB storage engine, which is […]

How can you reduce lock contention in MySQL?

Reducing lock contention in MySQL involves implementing various techniques and strategies that help minimize the occurrence of lock-related performance issues. Here are some of the ways to reduce lock contention in MySQL: By implementing these […]

What do we look for in a PostgreSQL execution plan?

PostgreSQL execution plans provide information on how the database intends to execute a given query. Understanding execution plans is crucial to identify performance issues and optimize query performance. Here are some of the things to […]