Partition table in PostgreSQL is very easy to do, It involve inheritance concept and trigger of PostgreSQL. Here i provide a sample to demonstrate how to partition table in PostgreSQL.

Before proceed, please understand some basic concept like,er… better i provide a concept of partition “time” in a table.

“Mother” — (Child1, Child2, Child3,Child4, Child5)

MasterTable — (Child_01_2008, Child_02_2008, Child_03_2008, Child_04_2008,Child_05_2008)

We only insert, select, update and delete on MasterTable, all child tables are transparent to user.

For example when i insert a record into MasterTable which is at January 2008. Record will auto redirect (trigger) to child table (Child_01_2008). When user select a record from Master table, postgreSQL will automatically retrieve data from all child tables which inherited from MasterTable.

1)Create a simple table call “hashvalue_PT” , it only include 2 columns “hash” and “hashtime”

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CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT
(
  hash bytea NOT NULL,
  hashtime TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME zone NOT NULL
);

2) Create 10 tables in different months and inherantence from main hashvalue_PT table.

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--Create Partition with check rule for validation
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m01 (
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-01-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-01-31' )
 ) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
 CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m02 (
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-02-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-02-29' )
 ) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m03 (
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-03-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-03-31' )
 ) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m04 (
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-04-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-04-30' )
 ) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m05 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-05-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-05-31' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m06 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-06-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-06-30' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m07 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-07-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-07-31' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m08 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-08-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-08-31' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m09 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-09-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-09-30' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);
CREATE TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m010 ( 
CHECK ( hashtime >= DATE '2008-10-01' AND hashtime < DATE '2008-10-31' )
) INHERITS (hashvalue_PT);

3) Create primary key for each child tables

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ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m01 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m01_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m02 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m02_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m03 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m03_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m04 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m04_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m05 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m05_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m06 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m06_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m07 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m07_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m08 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m08_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m09 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m09_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);
ALTER TABLE hashvalue_PT_y2008m010 ADD CONSTRAINT hashvalue_PT_y2008m010_pkey PRIMARY KEY (hashtime, hash);

4) Create an index for each child tables

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CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m01_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m01 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m02_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m02 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m03_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m03 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m04_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m04 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m05_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m05 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m06_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m06 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m07_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m07 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m08_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m08 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m09_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m09 (hashtime);
CREATE INDEX idx_hashvalue_PT_y2008m010_hashtime ON hashvalue_PT_y2008m010 (hashtime);

5) Create a trigger on mother table to redirect records into child tables.

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--create a trigger to redirect records to child table
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION hashvalue_PT_func_insert_trigger()
RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
BEGIN
    IF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-01-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-01-31' ) THEN
        INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m01 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-02-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-02-29' ) THEN
        INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m02 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-03-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-03-31' ) THEN
        INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m03 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-04-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-04-30' ) THEN
        INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m04 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-05-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-05-31' ) THEN
        INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m05 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-06-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-06-30' ) THEN
	INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m06 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-07-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-07-31' ) THEN
	INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m07 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-08-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-08-31' ) THEN
	INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m08 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-09-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-09-30' ) THEN
	INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m09 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSIF ( NEW.hashtime >= DATE '2008-10-01' AND NEW.hashtime < DATE '2008-10-31' ) THEN
	INSERT INTO hashvalue_PT_y2008m010 VALUES (NEW.*);
    ELSE
        RAISE EXCEPTION 'Date out of range.  Fix the measurement_insert_trigger() function!';
    END IF;
    RETURN NULL;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE plpgsql;
 
CREATE TRIGGER trigger_hashvalue_PT_insert
    BEFORE INSERT ON hashvalue_PT
    FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE PROCEDURE hashvalue_PT_func_insert_trigger();

6) Done, Simple

Next Session i will create a function to insert million of data from partition table to test performance between partition and non partition table. Please visit Partition Table In PostgreSQL (Simulate Millions Data) – Part 2

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