Should the optimization tag be re-purposed away from "query optimization" and towards "general" system-level optimization?

Question

optimization has this in the tag excerpt:

In the context of a database, optimisation refers to the process of the query optimiser selecting an efficient physical execution plan.

However, there is another tag, query-optimization which is quite similar:

Query optimization is a function of many relational database management systems. The query optimizer attempts to find an efficient way to execute a given query by considering the possible query plans.

I proposed a synonym be created to point query-optimization at optimization - however the point was raised in chat that perhaps the two tags should be different. I agree with that point.

optimization has 510 questions; these questions should likely be retagged with query-optimization

The tag wiki for optimization needs to be modified to be more generic; and perhaps the tag excerpt should guide users towards the query-optimization tag for those types of questions.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

I'm not sure that optimization should always be shorthand for query-optimization - there is a significant amount of DBA work on many other sorts from hardware, storage, block sizes through indexing/MVs/etc as well.

I suggest optimization is a synonym for query-optimization rather than the other way round, and then other tags such as hardware-optimization, io-optimization or whatever can exist on their own if and when they are justified — eg this question isn't about query-optimization.

We could just have a generic database-optimization to cover all optimization that doesn't fit in query-optimization?

Answer 2

I agree optimization (510 questions) and query-optimization (82) should be synonyms, as Jack suggests.

But, they should be used only for questions about the operation of the query optimizer/planner component, in line with the current wiki excerpt and description.

The word optimization is often used (especially colloquially or by beginners) when the intended meaning is closer to performance improvement. For those questions, the more popular performance (1534) or query-performance tags (835) may be more appropriate.

Though it might mean fighting a losing semantic battle, this answer suggests:

• query-optimization should be reserved for the query optimizer/planner component.
• query-performance and related tags should be used for questions about improving performance.
• New tags about improving performance should use the word "performance" rather than "optimization".

The existing query-optimization and query-performance wikis should be amended to reflect this distinction, and guide people to the correct tag.

Answer 3

I agree the more generic optimization should could be about optimal server/db settings, optimizing your disc system, or any number of other things. I think they should be seperate and have the wiki updates.

Answer 4

I would prefer server-optimization as the tag for server related issues. I prefer this over hardware-optimization since it focuses on the server environment overall rather than on the hardware in itself.

This focuses on systemic problems in the server environment, which would also include such things as network through-put, virtualization problems, the underlying server hardware, SAN behavior, and so forth.

I do agree with Jack Douglas and Paul White that optimization means query-optimization to most of the people most of the time. And that is fine.

Answer 5

I suspect optimization is going to be the general-case for queries, and so does not need specification. I feel like hardware-optimization or server-optimization makes more sense over query-optimization as 90% of dba optimization is around queries, no?

I'm not saying we don't need to know about, for example, disk layout optimization. I'm just saying it's the outlier, whereas query optimization is the "default"