EXPLAIN ANALYZE : What You Need To Know

CockroachDB is an open-source, distributed SQL database that offers consistent, scalable, and highly available data storage. As with any relational database system, one of the most important tasks for a database administrator or developer is optimizing queries for performance. One tool that can be incredibly helpful for this task is the "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" syntax in CockroachDB.

The EXPLAIN ANALYZE syntax provides detailed information about how CockroachDB executes a query. This includes the query plan, the cost of each operation, and the time taken by each operation. The output of this syntax can be used to identify and fix performance issues in queries. Additionally, it can be used to optimize queries by suggesting changes to the query or to the database schema.

There are several parameters that can be used with the EXPLAIN ANALYZE syntax to provide additional information about the query plan. These parameters include PLAN, DISTSQL, DEBUG, and PREPARABLE_STMT.

PLAN:

This parameter displays the query plan as a tree structure, with each node representing an operation performed by CockroachDB. The nodes are organized in a way that shows the order in which the operations are executed. This can be helpful for identifying which parts of the query are taking the most time to execute.

DISTSQL:

This parameter displays information about the distributed SQL execution of the query. CockroachDB uses a distributed SQL engine to execute queries across multiple nodes in the cluster. The DISTSQL parameter can be used to see how CockroachDB distributes the query across nodes and how it processes the results of each node.

DEBUG

This parameter displays additional verbose debugging information about the query execution. This can be helpful for understanding why certain parts of the query are taking longer than expected. It is also usefull for identifying hard to find issues with a particullar query in order to help optimize it

PREPARABLE_STMT

This parameter displays information about how CockroachDB handles prepared statements. Prepared statements are precompiled SQL statements that can be executed repeatedly with different input values. The PREPARABLE_STMT parameter can be used to see how CockroachDB prepares and executes prepared statements.

Another option that can be used  is the VERBOSE option. The VERBOSE option provides even more detailed information about the query plan and can be useful in identifying the root cause of performance issues.

When the VERBOSE option is used, the output includes additional information such as the estimated and actual number of rows returned by each operation, the size of each operation's output, and the distribution of data among the nodes in the cluster. This information can help identify issues such as data skew or uneven distribution that may be causing performance problems.

Optimizing queries for performance is a critical task for any database administrator or developer working with CockroachDB. The "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" syntax provides a powerful tool for achieving this goal by offering detailed insights into how CockroachDB executes queries. The output of this syntax can help identify and fix performance issues in queries, as well as suggest changes to the query or database schema to improve performance. The different parameters that can be used with the "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" syntax, such as PLAN, DISTSQL, DEBUG, and PREPARABLE_STMT, provide additional information about the query plan and help to further optimize queries. Overall, the "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" syntax is a valuable tool for anyone working with CockroachDB and seeking to optimize the performance of their database queries.