apache / apache/datafusion

Tuning Guide for Larger-than-memory Queries

Open
#16,177 1 comment 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
9.3k
Forks
2.4k
Avg merge
3d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
344

Description

### Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?

It would be great to include an example (under `datafusion-examples`) to illustrate:

1. Show how to configure the DataFusion runtime so that a query can run within a specified memory limit.

2. Provide example queries and walk through interpreting the `EXPLAIN` output, focusing on understanding memory usage and identifying whether and when spilling happens.

3. Describe the relevant configuration options for larger-than-memory queries.

### Describe the solution you'd like

_No response_

### Describe alternatives you've considered

_No response_

### Additional context

_No response_

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing the existing examples under datafusion-examples to understand how runtime configuration and query demonstrations are organized. Add an example that configures a memory limit, demonstrates larger-than-memory queries, and explains EXPLAIN output, memory usage, spilling, and relevant configuration options. Done means the example and tuning guidance cover all three requested areas.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust, sql
Domain
data-engineering, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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