performance - PostgreSQL query very slow with limit 1

Question

My queries get very slow when I add a limit 1.

I have a table object_values with timestamped values for objects:

 timestamp |  objectID |  value
--------------------------------
 2014-01-27|       234 | ksghdf

Per object I want to get the latest value:

SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 1;

(I cancelled the query after more than 10 minutes)

This query is very slow when there are no values for a given objectID (it is fast if there are results). If I remove the limit it tells me nearly instantaneous that there are no results:

SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp DESC;  
...  
Time: 0.463 ms

An explain shows me that the query without limit uses the index, where as the query with limit 1 does not make use of the index:

Slow query:

explain SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp DESC limit 1;  
QUERY PLAN`
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Limit  (cost=0.00..2350.44 rows=1 width=126)
->  Index Scan Backward using object_values_timestamp on object_values  (cost=0.00..3995743.59 rows=1700 width=126)
     Filter: (objectID = 53708)`

Fast query:

explain SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp DESC;
                                                  QUERY PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sort  (cost=6540.86..6545.11 rows=1700 width=126)
   Sort Key: timestamp
   ->  Index Scan using object_values_objectID on working_hours_t  (cost=0.00..6449.65 rows=1700 width=126)
         Index Cond: (objectID = 53708)

The table contains 44,884,559 rows and 66,762 distinct objectIDs.
I have separate indexes on both fields: timestamp and objectID.
I have done a vacuum analyze on the table and I have reindexed the table.

Additionally the slow query becomes fast when I set the limit to 3 or higher:

explain SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp DESC limit 3;
                                                     QUERY PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Limit  (cost=6471.62..6471.63 rows=3 width=126)
   ->  Sort  (cost=6471.62..6475.87 rows=1700 width=126)
         Sort Key: timestamp
         ->  Index Scan using object_values_objectID on object_values  (cost=0.00..6449.65 rows=1700 width=126)
               Index Cond: (objectID = 53708)

In general I assume it has to do with the planner making wrong assumptions about the exectution costs and therefore chooses for a slower execution plan.

Is this the real reason? Is there a solution for this?

Answer 1

You can avoid this issue by adding an unneeded ORDER BY clause to the query.

SELECT * FROM object_values WHERE (objectID = 53708) ORDER BY timestamp, objectID DESC limit 1;