Re: for help!

Scott,

> Well, you can always use the trick of putting an on insert / delete
> trigger on the table that maintains a single row table with the current
> count.  That way, whenever a row is added or removed, the count is
> updated.  this will slow down inserts and deletes a little, but TANSTAAFL.

BTW, I tested this for a client.   I found the performance penalty on inserts
and updates to be:

-- For a single stream of intermittent updates from a single connection
   on an adequately powered server with moderate disk support (IDE Linux RAID)
   (100 inserts/updates per minute, with VACUUM every 5 minutes)
   PL/pgSQL Trigger:  20% penalty      C Trigger: 9-11% penalty

-- For 5 streams of inserts and updates at high volume on an overloaded
   server with moderate disk support (dual fast SCSI disks)
   (1000 inserts/updates per minute, vacuum every 5 minutes)
   PL/pgSQL Trigger: 65% penalty    C Trigger: 40% penalty

Please note that the effective performance penalty on inserts and updates was
dramatically higher for large batches of updates than for small ones.

--
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco