Cutting Partition Maintenance Costs for the E-commerce and IoT Industries by Leveraging GaussDB(DWS)'s Automatic Partition Management Feature

Scenarios

For partition tables whose partition columns are time, the automatic partition management function can be added to automatically create partitions and delete expired partitions, reducing partition table maintenance costs and improving query performance. To facilitate data query and maintenance, the time column is often used as the partition column of a partitioned table that stores time-related data, such as e-commerce order information and real-time IoT data. When the time-related data is imported to a partitioned table, the table should have partitions of the corresponding time ranges. Common partition tables do not automatically create new partitions or delete expired partitions. Therefore, maintenance personnel need to periodically create new partitions and delete expired partitions, leading to increased O&M costs.

GaussDB(DWS) has introduced an automatic partition management feature to address this issue. You can set the table-level parameters period and ttl to enable the automatic partition management function, which automatically creates partitions and deletes expired partitions, reducing partition table maintenance costs and improving query performance.

The automatic partition management also works with both time-based and non-time-based columns like INT, BIGINT, VARCHAR, and TEXT. This expands the function's usefulness and flexibility.

period: interval for automatically creating partitions. The default value is 1 day. The value range is 1 hour ~ 100 years.

ttl: time for automatically eliminate partitions. The value range is 1 hour ~ 100 years. Partition elimination occurs when nowtime - Partition boundary > ttl, resulting in the removal of qualifying partitions.

time_format:

If the partition column is VARCHAR, TEXT, INT, or BIGINT, set the table-level parameter time_format to specify the time format. This tells the system how to parse the time value in the partition column for automatic partition management. You can set time_format only if the partition key is INT4, INT8, VARCHAR, or TEXT, and a period is specified.

Here are the time_format options and restrictions for each type of partition column:

• The precision can be accurate to seconds.
• The entered content cannot contain letters, such as MONTH, AM, and PM.
• The time format must be in descending order, for example, YYYYMMDDHH24MISS.

• The precision can be accurate to hours.
• The input content cannot contain non-numeric elements.
• The time format must be in descending order, for example, YYYYMMDDHH24.

Automatic Partition Creation Rules

• Automatic partition creation

  One or more partitions are automatically created at the interval specified by period to make the maximum partition boundary time greater than nowTime + 30 x period. As long as there is an automatically created partition, real-time data will not fail to be imported within the next 30 periods.

  Figure 1 Automatic partition creation
  
• Automatically deleting expired partitions

  Partitions whose boundary time is earlier than nowTime-ttl are considered expired partitions. The automatic partition management function traverses all partitions and deletes expired partitions after each period. If all partitions are expired partitions, the system retains one partition and truncates the table.

Constraints

Creating an ECS

For details, see Purchasing an ECS. After purchasing an ECS, log in to the ECS by referring to Logging In to a Linux ECS.

When creating an ECS, ensure that the ECS is in the same region, AZ, and VPC subnet as the stream data warehouse. Select the OS used by the gsql client (CentOS 7.6 is used as an example) as the ECS OS, and select using passwords to log in.

Creating a cluster

1. Create a cluster on the management console. For details, see Creating a DWS 2.0 Cluster.

Using the gsql CLI Client to Connect to a Cluster

1. Remotely log in to the Linux server where gsql is to be installed as user root, and run the following command in the Linux command window to download the gsql client:

   1	wget https://obs.ap-southeast-1.myhuaweicloud.com/dws/download/dws_client_8.1.x_redhat_x64.zip --no-check-certificate

2. Decompress the client.

   1	cd <Path_for_storing_the_client> unzip dws_client_8.1.x_redhat_x64.zip

   Where,

   • <Path_for_storing_the_client>: Replace it with the actual path.
   • dws_client_8.1.x_redhat_x64.zip: This is the client tool package name of RedHat x64. Replace it with the actual name.

3. Configure the GaussDB(DWS) client.

   1	source gsql_env.sh

   If the following information is displayed, the gsql client is successfully configured:

   1	All things done.

4. Use the gsql client to connect to a GaussDB(DWS) database (using the password you defined when creating the cluster).

   1	gsql -d gaussdb -p 8000 -h 192.168.0.86 -U dbadmin -W password -r

   If the following information is displayed, the connection succeeded:

   1

   gaussdb=>

Automatic partition management

The partition management function is bound to the table-level parameters period and ttl. Automatic partition creation is enabled with the enabling of period, and automatic partition deletion is enabled with the enabling of ttl. 30 seconds after period or ttl is set, the automatic partition creation or deletion works for the first time.

You can enable the partition management function in either of the following ways:

• Specify period and ttl when creating a table.

  This way is applicable when you create a partition management table. There are two syntaxes for creating a partition management table. One specifies partitions, and the other does not.

  If partitions are specified when a partition management table is created, the syntax rules are the same as those for creating a common partitioned table. The only difference is that the syntax specifies the table-level parameters period and ttl.

  The following example shows how to create a partition management table CPU1 and specify partitions.

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  -- Time type CREATE TABLE CPU1( id integer, IP text, time timestamp ) with (TTL='7 days',PERIOD='1 day') partition by range(time) ( PARTITION P1 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-13 16:32:45'), PARTITION P2 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-15 16:48:12') ); -- INT type CREATE TABLE CPU1( id integer, IP text, time integer ) with (TTL='7 days',PERIOD='1 day', TIME_FORMAT='YYYY-MM-DD') partition by range(time) ( PARTITION P1 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-13'), PARTITION P2 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-15') ); -- VARCHAR type CREATE TABLE CPU1( id integer, IP text, time varchar ) with (TTL='7 days',PERIOD='1 day', TIME_FORMAT='YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') partition by range(time) ( PARTITION P1 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-13 16:32:45'), PARTITION P2 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-15 16:48:12') );

  For partitioned tables with INT, BIGINT, VARCHAR, or TEXT types, if the automatic partitioning feature is on, the system adds missing partitions within the TTL range. This is based on the TTL setting and the existing minimum partition boundary (min_bound).

  The rules depend on the relationship between min_bound and the current time (cur_time), and are categorized as follows:

  Condition	Description
  min_bound > cur_time + 29 * period	The current minimum partition size is sufficient. The system sees no need for additional partitions and will not create them automatically.
  min_bound > cur_time and min_bound < cur_time + 29 * period	The system advances partitions until the earliest partition boundary is before cur_time - ttl.
  min_bound < cur_time and min_bound > cur_time - ttl	The system advances partitions until the earliest partition boundary is before cur_time - ttl.
  min_bound < cur_time - ttl	The current minimum partition is outside the TTL range and will soon be removed. Thus, it will not be moved forward.

  

  • cur_time indicates the current system time.
  • period indicates the period of automatic partitioning.
  • The automatic completion logic ensures that partitions exist completely in a valid time window, facilitating data import and query.

  When creating a partition management table, you can specify only the partition key but not partitions. In this case, two default partitions will be created with period as the partition time range. The boundary time of the first default partition is the first hour, day, week, month, or year past the current time. The time unit is selected based on the maximum unit of PERIOD. The boundary time of the second default partition is the boundary time of the first partition plus PERIOD. Assume that the current time is 2023-02-17 16:32:45, and the boundary of the first default partition is described in the following table.

  Table 3 Description of the period parameter

  period	Maximum PERIOD Unit	Boundary of First Default Partition
  1hour	Hour	2023-02-17 17:00:00
  1day	Day	2023-02-18 00:00:00
  1month	Month	2023-03-01 00:00:00
  13months	Year	2024-01-01 00:00:00

  For INT, BIGINT, VARCHAR, and TEXT partition tables, if no partition is set, the system automatically creates initial partitions when the automatic partition management is turned on. The creation rules are as follows:

  • Add two partitions forward (compared with the current time).
  • Add ttl/period partitions backward (calculated based on the lifecycle ttl and partition period).

  Run the following command to create the partition management table CPU2 with no partitions specified:

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  CREATE TABLE CPU2( id integer, IP text, time timestamp ) with (TTL='7 days',PERIOD='1 day') partition by range(time);

• Run the ALTER TABLE RESET command to set period and ttl.

  This method is used to add the partition management function to an ordinary partitioned table that meets the partition management constraints.

  • Run the following command to create an ordinary partition table CPU3:

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    -- Time type CREATE TABLE CPU3( id integer, IP text, time timestamp ) partition by range(time) ( PARTITION P1 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-14 16:32:45'), PARTITION P2 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-15 16:56:12') ); -- VARCHAR type CREATE TABLE CPU3( id integer, IP text, time varchar ) partition by range(time) ( PARTITION P1 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-13 16:32:45'), PARTITION P2 VALUES LESS THAN('2023-02-15 16:48:12') );

  • To enable the automatic partition creation and deletion functions, run the following command:

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 SET (PERIOD='1 day',TTL='7 days');

  • To enable only the automatic partition creation function, run the following command:

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 SET (PERIOD='1 day');

  • To enable only the automatic partition deletion function, run the following command (If automatic partition creation is not enabled in advance, the operation will fail):

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 SET (TTL='7 days');

  • Modify the period and ttl parameters to modify the partition management function.

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 SET (TTL='10 days',PERIOD='2 days');

• Disabling the partition management function

  You can run the ALTER TABLE RESET command to delete the table-level parameters period and ttl to disable the partition management function.

  

  • The period cannot be deleted separately with TTL.
  • The time series table does not support ALTER TABLE RESET.
  • Run the following command to disable the automatic partition creation and deletion functions:

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU1 RESET (PERIOD,TTL);

  • To disable only the automatic partition deletion, run the following command:

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 RESET (TTL);

  • To disable only the automatic partition creation function, run the following command (If the table contains the ttl parameter, the operation will fail):

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 RESET (PERIOD);

  • For partition tables of the INT, BIGINT, VARCHAR, and TEXT types, disable the TIME_FORMAT option as prompted.

    1	ALTER TABLE CPU3 RESET (TIME_FORMAT);