Database Insights

MySQL 8.0 introduced EXPLAIN FORMAT=TREE — a hierarchical, human-readable query plan format that reveals join order, access methods, and cost estimates in a way that the traditional tabular EXPLAIN cannot.

Define meaningful SLOs and SLAs for your database tier — latency, availability, durability, and error budgets

How to use pg_stat_statements to identify slow queries, analyze execution stats, and optimize PostgreSQL performance

MySQL 8.0 introduced multi-valued indexes — allowing you to index individual elements of a JSON array so queries using MEMBER OF or JSON_OVERLAPS can use an index.

A production guide to zero-downtime database migrations — why ALTER TABLE causes downtime, the Expand-Contract pattern, safe migration patterns for PostgreSQL and MySQL, and tooling with Flyway, Liquibase, pt-osc, and gh-ost.

Master MongoDB aggregation pipeline stages — $lookup, $group, $facet, explain plans, and index optimization

Detect query plan regressions in PostgreSQL using auto_explain, pg_hint_plan, and plan baseline management

Use pg_upgrade to migrate between PostgreSQL major versions — upgrade strategies, pre-checks, and rollback plans

ProxySQL pools thousands of application connections into a small backend pool, splits reads to replicas automatically, and lets you change routing without touching application code or restarting MySQL.

Identify bloated indexes in PostgreSQL using pgstattuple, REINDEX CONCURRENTLY, and automated monitoring

PostgreSQL views historically executed with the owner's privileges, bypassing row-level security policies. PostgreSQL 15 fixed this with security_invoker views — here's why it matters and how to use it in multi-tenant schemas.

Tune PostgreSQL checkpoint frequency, WAL segment size, and bgwriter to maximize write throughput