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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>15.2. When Can Parallel Query Be Used?</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="how-parallel-query-works.html" title="15.1. How Parallel Query Works" /><link rel="next" href="parallel-plans.html" title="15.3. Parallel Plans" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">15.2. When Can Parallel Query Be Used?</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="how-parallel-query-works.html" title="15.1. How Parallel Query Works">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="parallel-query.html" title="Chapter 15. Parallel Query">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 15. Parallel Query</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parallel-plans.html" title="15.3. Parallel Plans">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="WHEN-CAN-PARALLEL-QUERY-BE-USED"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">15.2. When Can Parallel Query Be Used? <a href="#WHEN-CAN-PARALLEL-QUERY-BE-USED" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><p>
    There are several settings that can cause the query planner not to
    generate a parallel query plan under any circumstances.  In order for
    any parallel query plans whatsoever to be generated, the following
    settings must be configured as indicated.
  </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
        <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-MAX-PARALLEL-WORKERS-PER-GATHER">max_parallel_workers_per_gather</a> must be set to a
        value that is greater than zero. This is a special case of the more
        general principle that no more workers should be used than the number
        configured via <code class="varname">max_parallel_workers_per_gather</code>.
      </p></li></ul></div><p>
    In addition, the system must not be running in single-user mode.  Since
    the entire database system is running as a single process in this situation,
    no background workers will be available.
  </p><p>
    Even when it is in general possible for parallel query plans to be
    generated, the planner will not generate them for a given query
    if any of the following are true:
  </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
        The query writes any data or locks any database rows. If a query
        contains a data-modifying operation either at the top level or within
        a CTE, no parallel plans for that query will be generated.  As an
        exception, the following commands, which create a new table and populate
        it, can use a parallel plan for the underlying <code class="literal">SELECT</code>
        part of the query:

        </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: circle; "><li class="listitem"><p><code class="command">CREATE TABLE ... AS</code></p></li><li class="listitem"><p><code class="command">SELECT INTO</code></p></li><li class="listitem"><p><code class="command">CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW</code></p></li><li class="listitem"><p><code class="command">REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW</code></p></li></ul></div><p>
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
        The query might be suspended during execution. In any situation in
        which the system thinks that partial or incremental execution might
        occur, no parallel plan is generated. For example, a cursor created
        using <a class="link" href="sql-declare.html" title="DECLARE">DECLARE CURSOR</a> will never use
        a parallel plan. Similarly, a PL/pgSQL loop of the form
        <code class="literal">FOR x IN query LOOP .. END LOOP</code> will never use a
        parallel plan, because the parallel query system is unable to verify
        that the code in the loop is safe to execute while parallel query is
        active.
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
        The query uses any function marked <code class="literal">PARALLEL UNSAFE</code>.
        Most system-defined functions are <code class="literal">PARALLEL SAFE</code>,
        but user-defined functions are marked <code class="literal">PARALLEL
        UNSAFE</code> by default. See the discussion of
        <a class="xref" href="parallel-safety.html" title="15.4. Parallel Safety">Section 15.4</a>.
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
        The query is running inside of another query that is already parallel.
        For example, if a function called by a parallel query issues an SQL
        query itself, that query will never use a parallel plan. This is a
        limitation of the current implementation, but it may not be desirable
        to remove this limitation, since it could result in a single query
        using a very large number of processes.
      </p></li></ul></div><p>
    Even when parallel query plan is generated for a particular query, there
    are several circumstances under which it will be impossible to execute
    that plan in parallel at execution time.  If this occurs, the leader
    will execute the portion of the plan below the <code class="literal">Gather</code>
    node entirely by itself, almost as if the <code class="literal">Gather</code> node were
    not present.  This will happen if any of the following conditions are met:
  </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
        No background workers can be obtained because of the limitation that
        the total number of background workers cannot exceed
        <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-MAX-WORKER-PROCESSES">max_worker_processes</a>.
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
        No background workers can be obtained because of the limitation that
        the total number of background workers launched for purposes of
        parallel query cannot exceed <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-MAX-PARALLEL-WORKERS">max_parallel_workers</a>.
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
        The client sends an Execute message with a non-zero fetch count.
        See the discussion of the
        <a class="link" href="protocol-flow.html#PROTOCOL-FLOW-EXT-QUERY" title="55.2.3. Extended Query">extended query protocol</a>.
        Since <a class="link" href="libpq.html" title="Chapter 34. libpq — C Library">libpq</a> currently provides no way to
        send such a message, this can only occur when using a client that
        does not rely on libpq.  If this is a frequent
        occurrence, it may be a good idea to set
        <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-resource.html#GUC-MAX-PARALLEL-WORKERS-PER-GATHER">max_parallel_workers_per_gather</a> to zero in
        sessions where it is likely, so as to avoid generating query plans
        that may be suboptimal when run serially.
      </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="how-parallel-query-works.html" title="15.1. How Parallel Query Works">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="parallel-query.html" title="Chapter 15. Parallel Query">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parallel-plans.html" title="15.3. Parallel Plans">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">15.1. How Parallel Query Works </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 16.3 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 15.3. Parallel Plans</td></tr></table></div></body></html>