Posted On: Jun 1, 2023

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for PostgreSQL now supports the HypoPG extension for creating hypothetical indexes, which lets you test the performance impact of an index on query plans before you build it. 

Indexes are a way to accelerate queries in PostgreSQL, however, building indexes in a production system requires additional storage and may not necessarily improve the performance of slow-running queries. The HypoPG extension lets you test the impact of adding an index without having to build it, and lets you determine if you should build an index before using CPU and storage resources. HypoPG helps to provide you insight into whether the PostgreSQL query planner will choose to use an index and any performance benefits that result from the use of the index.

The HypoPG extension is available on all database instances in Amazon RDS running PostgreSQL 15.3 and higher, 14.8 and higher, and 13.11 and higher, in all AWS Regions, including the AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. Please see the list of supported extensions in the Amazon RDS User Guide for specific versions.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL makes it simple to set up, operate, and scale PostgreSQL deployments in the cloud. See Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Pricing for pricing details and regional availability. Create or update a fully managed Amazon RDS database in the Amazon RDS Management Console. You can learn more about HypoPG in the AWS Database Blog.