PGD AutoPartition
=================

PGD AutoPartition allows you to split tables into several partitions. It
lets tables grow easily to large sizes using automatic partitioning
management. This capability uses features of PGD, such as low-conflict
locking of creating and dropping partitions.

You can create new partitions regularly and then drop them when the data
retention period expires.

You perform PGD management primarily by using functions that can be
called by SQL. All functions in PGD are exposed in the ``bdr`` schema.
Unless you put it into your search_path, you need to schema qualify the
name of each function.

Auto creation of partitions
---------------------------

PGD AutoPartition uses the :ref:`bdr.autopartition() <Autopartition>` 

function to create or alter the definition of automatic range
partitioning for a table. If no definition exists, it’s created.
Otherwise, later executions will alter the definition.

PGD AutoPartition in PGD 5.5 and later leverages underlying Postgres
features that allow a partition to be attached or detached/dropped
without locking the rest of the table. Versions of PGD earlier than 5.5
don’t support this feature and lock the tables.

An error is raised if the table isn’t RANGE partitioned or a
multi-column partition key is used.

By default, AutoPartition manages partitions globally. In other words,
when a partition is created on one node, the same partition is created
on all other nodes in the cluster. Using the default makes all
partitions consistent and guaranteed to be available. For this
capability, AutoPartition makes use of Raft.

You can change this behavior by setting ``managed_locally`` to ``true``
. In that case, all partitions are managed locally on each node.
Managing partitions locally is useful when the partitioned table isn’t a
replicated table. In that case, you might not need or want to have all
partitions on all nodes. For example, the built-in `bdr.conflict_history <https://www.enterprisedb.com/docs/pgd/latest/reference/catalogs-visible#bdrconflict_history>`_ 

table isn’t a replicated table. It’s managed by AutoPartition locally.
Each node creates partitions for this table locally and drops them once
they’re old enough.

Also consider:

-  You can’t later change tables marked as ``managed_locally`` to be
   managed globally and vice versa.

-  Activities are performed only when the entry is marked
   ``enabled = on`` .

-  We recommend that you don’t manually create or drop partitions for
   tables managed by AutoPartition. Doing so can make the AutoPartition
   metadata inconsistent and might cause it to fail.

AutoPartition examples
----------------------

Daily partitions, keep data for one month:

.. code:: sql

   CREATE TABLE measurement (
   logdate date not null,
   peaktemp int,
   unitsales int
   ) PARTITION BY RANGE (logdate);

   bdr.autopartition(measurement, 1 day, data_retention_period := 30 days);

Create five advance partitions when there are only two more partitions
remaining. Each partition can hold 1 billion orders.

.. code:: sql

   bdr.autopartition(Orders, 1000000000,
           partition_initial_lowerbound := 0,
           minimum_advance_partitions := 2,
           maximum_advance_partitions := 5
        );

RANGE-partitioned tables
------------------------

A new partition is added for every ``partition_increment`` range of
values. Lower and upper bound are ``partition_increment`` apart. For
tables with a partition key of type ``timestamp`` or ``date`` , the
``partition_increment`` must be a valid constant of type ``interval`` .
For example, specifying ``1 Day`` causes a new partition to be added
each day, with partition bounds that are one day apart.

If the partition column is connected to a ``snowflakeid`` ,
``timeshard`` , or ``ksuuid`` sequence, you must specify the
``partition_increment`` as type ``interval`` . Otherwise, if the
partition key is integer or numeric, then the ``partition_increment``
must be a valid constant of the same datatype. For example, specifying
``1000000`` causes new partitions to be added every 1 million values.

If the table has no existing partition, then the specified
``partition_initial_lowerbound`` is used as the lower bound for the
first partition. If you don’t specify ``partition_initial_lowerbound`` ,
then the system tries to derive its value from the partition column type
and the specified ``partition_increment`` . For example, if
``partition_increment`` is specified as ``1 Day`` , then
``partition_initial_lowerbound`` is set to CURRENT DATE. If
``partition_increment`` is specified as ``1 Hour`` , then
``partition_initial_lowerbound`` is set to the current hour of the
current date. The bounds for the subsequent partitions are set using the
``partition_increment`` value.

The system always tries to have a certain minimum number of advance
partitions. To decide whether to create new partitions, it uses the
specified ``partition_autocreate_expression`` . This can be an
expression that can be evaluated by SQL that’s evaluated every time a
check is performed. For example, for a partitioned table on column type
``date`` , suppose ``partition_autocreate_expression`` is specified as
``DATE_TRUNC('day',CURRENT_DATE)`` , ``partition_increment`` is
specified as ``1 Day`` , and ``minimum_advance_partitions`` is specified
as ``2`` . New partitions are then created until the upper bound of the
last partition is less than
``DATE_TRUNC('day', CURRENT_DATE) + '2 Days'::interval`` .

The expression is evaluated each time the system checks for new
partitions.

For a partitioned table on column type ``integer`` , you can specify the
``partition_autocreate_expression`` as
``SELECT max(partcol) FROM schema.partitioned_table`` . The system then
regularly checks if the maximum value of the partitioned column is
within the distance of
``minimum_advance_partitions * partition_increment`` of the last
partition’s upper bound. Create an index on the ``partcol`` so that the
query runs efficiently. If you don’t specify the
``partition_autocreate_expression`` for a partition table on column type
``integer`` , ``smallint`` , or ``bigint`` , then the system sets it to
``max(partcol)`` .

If the ``data_retention_period`` is set, partitions are dropped after
this period. To minimize locking, partitions are dropped at the same
time as new partitions are added. If you don’t set this value, you must
drop the partitions manually.

The ``data_retention_period`` parameter is supported only for
timestamp-based (and related) partitions. The period is calculated by
considering the upper bound of the partition. The partition is dropped
if the given period expires, relative to the upper bound.

Stopping automatic creation of partitions
-----------------------------------------

Use :ref:`bdr.drop_autopartition() <Autopartition>` 

to drop the autopartitioning rule for the given relation. All pending
work items for the relation are deleted, and no new work items are
created.

Waiting for partition creation
------------------------------

Partition creation is an asynchronous process. AutoPartition provides a
set of functions to wait for the partition to be created, locally or on
all nodes.

Use :ref:`bdr.autopartition_wait_for_partitions() <Autopartition>` 

to wait for the creation of partitions on the local node. The function
takes the partitioned table name and a partition key column value and
waits until the partition that holds that value is created.

The function waits only for the partitions to be created locally. It
doesn’t guarantee that the partitions also exist on the remote nodes.

To wait for the partition to be created on all PGD nodes, use the
:ref:`bdr.autopartition_wait_for_partitions_on_all_nodes() <Autopartition>` 

function. This function internally checks local as well as all remote
nodes and waits until the partition is created everywhere.

Finding a partition
-------------------

Use the :ref:`bdr.autopartition_find_partition() <Autopartition>` 

function to find the partition for the given partition key value. If a
partition to hold that value doesn’t exist, then the function returns
NULL. Otherwise it returns the Oid of the partition.

Enabling or disabling autopartitioning
--------------------------------------

Use :ref:`bdr.autopartition_enable() <Autopartition>` 

to enable autopartitioning on the given table. If autopartitioning is
already enabled, then no action occurs. Similarly, use :ref:`bdr.autopartition_disable() <Autopartition>` 

to disable autopartitioning on the given table.
