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RailsConf 2019 - When it all goes Wrong (with Postgres) by Will Leinweber

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Your phone wakes you up in the middle of the night. Your app is down and you're on call to fix it. Eventually you track it down to "something with the db," but what's wrong exactly? And of course, you're sure that nothing changed recently…

Knowing what to fix, and even where to start looking, is a skill that takes a while to develop. Especially since Postgres normally works very well most of the time, not giving you get practice!

In this talk, you'll learn not only the common failure cases and how to fix them, but also how to quickly figuring out what's wrong in the first place.

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In the talk titled "When it all goes Wrong (with Postgres)" presented by Will Leinweber at RailsConf 2019, the speaker addresses common issues developers encounter with PostgreSQL databases. Leinweber, a professional with extensive experience in PostgreSQL management, emphasizes the difficulty in diagnosing problems when Postgres operates smoothly most of the time. This talk aims to guide developers in identifying and resolving common database issues, particularly when users suddenly face performance problems despite no apparent changes.

**Key Points Discussed:**  
- **Common Issues with Postgres:**   
  - Many problems stem from applications overusing the database rather than Postgres itself.  
  - Familiarity with common failure cases will facilitate quicker problem-solving.

- **Identifying Problems:**  
  - The importance of understanding the system as a combination of resources: CPU, memory, disk I/O, and parallelism.  
  - A framework for diagnosing issues based on the relationship between these resources.

- **Key Assumptions:**  
  - Hardware quality is fundamental.  
  - Postgres should not crash; if it does, further expert analysis may be necessary.

- **Diagnostic Techniques:**  
  - Utilizing tools like `perf`, `gdb`, `iostat`, and others to analyze running queries and system performance.  
  - Recognizing common patterns in database operation to identify the root of issues.

- **Real-world Analogies and Examples:**  
  - An analogy comparing Postgres issues to wartime aircraft studies illustrates the importance of understanding failure patterns to improve system resilience.  
  - Highlighting the significance of ‘backlog’ work and how certain users can drastically affect performance.

**Conclusions and Takeaways:**  
- Strengthening application architecture and maintaining proper database resource allocation can prevent performance issues.  
- Proactive measures like implementing rate limiting and scaling hardware can avert many common disasters.  
- Developers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with diagnostic tools while keeping an eye on common usage patterns to maintain healthy database operations.  
- Understanding the cyclical nature of system stress can help prepare developers to prevent outages.

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