efficiency Archives

Tech Optimizer

February 22, 2025

How Mindbody improved query latency and optimized costs using Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL Optimized Reads

Mindbody utilizes a cloud-based platform for the fitness and wellness industry, offering services such as client booking, scheduling, payments, marketing, and analytics. Their email marketing platform is built on an Aurora PostgreSQL cluster, currently at version 13.8, with a size of approximately 17 TB and a workload distribution of 80% reads and 20% writes. Mindbody faced scaling and performance challenges due to architectural limitations and increasing data demands, leading to all workloads being directed to the writer node. The average BufferCacheHitRatio was below 80%, indicating frequent disk access rather than cache hits, contributing to higher query latencies and I/O costs. To address these issues, Mindbody adopted Aurora Optimized Reads, which enhances caching capacity and improves latency and throughput for I/O-intensive workloads. Transitioning required upgrading the database cluster to version 14.9 or higher, and extensive testing was conducted in a proof-of-concept environment. The upgrade process involved a blue/green deployment strategy to minimize production disruption. After implementing Aurora Optimized Reads, Mindbody experienced significant performance improvements, including a 50% reduction in average daily CPU utilization and a 90% reduction in ReadIOPS. The AuroraOptimizedReadsCacheHitRatio indicated that 85% of read requests were served from the optimized cache. Cost analysis revealed a 23% reduction in monthly Aurora costs post-transition, with potential for further savings by downsizing instances.

Tech Optimizer

February 21, 2025

Self-managed multi-tenant vector search with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

Organizations are using generative AI and machine learning tools to extract value from unstructured data, employing specialized machine learning models to convert data into vectors for efficient searching and retrieval. Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition, with the pgvector extension, allows developers to create a vector store for generative AI applications. Multi-tenant architectures in software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications ensure tenant data isolation to maintain security and privacy. In a multi-tenant scenario, home survey requests are processed, and survey reports are stored in Amazon S3. Embedding models convert these documents into vector embeddings, which are stored in a vector store. There are two approaches to building a vector-based application: a self-managed approach, where developers handle data processing and queries, and a fully-managed option using Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases. The self-managed approach involves coding to process data, generate vector embeddings, and store them in Aurora. The architecture includes data ingestion via AWS Lambda, embedding conversion, SQL queries for data retrieval, and response enhancement using a large language model (LLM). Key terminologies include vector embeddings, embedding models, chunking, pgvector, HNSW index, and IVFFlat index. The process of creating a vector store involves configuring the Aurora PostgreSQL database, enabling the pgvector extension, and establishing a schema for the vector store. The vector table includes fields for UUID, vector embeddings, text chunks, metadata, and tenant identification. Data ingestion requires coding to convert data into embeddings and insert them into the database. Retrieval of vector data is crucial for enhancing prompts sent to LLMs, with various distance functions supported for identifying similar vectors. Multi-tenancy is enforced using row-level security in PostgreSQL, ensuring tenant data isolation. The process includes updating query functions to support tenant isolation and setting the current tenant ID for queries.

Winsage

February 21, 2025

The Windows 11 Snipping Tool is about to get a killer new feature

Microsoft is adding an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) feature to the Snipping Tool, improving text extraction from images. This feature was discovered by PhantomOfEarth during Windows beta testing and will allow users to extract text with just a couple of clicks, eliminating the need for preliminary screenshots. The Snipping Tool is pre-installed on all Windows 11 devices, making the OCR functionality readily accessible without additional downloads.

Tech Optimizer

February 21, 2025

PostgreSQL 18: Part 2 or CommitFest 2024-09

September's CommitFest for version 18 has seen a wealth of accepted patches and new features, including: - Conflict detection and logging in logical replication - Removal of the constant 10000000000 in the planner to improve sequential scan cost assessment - Enhanced memory management and usage monitoring for temporary tuple storage - Asynchronous operations support in pg_upgrade for multiple databases - Speed improvements for Hash Joins - Faster text value processing in JSON - Optimized numeric-type multiplication and division - Introduction of ANALYZE ONLY and VACUUM ONLY commands - Improved checkpointer statistics - Normalization of SET commands in pg_stat_statements - Reporting of remote connection status in postgres_fdw_get_connections - Ignoring format conversion errors in file_fdw - New function has_largeobject_privilege - Functions crc32 and crc32c added - Client-server protocol updates to report search_path changes - Support for named prepared statements in psql - Integrity verification for tar backups in pg_verifybackup

Tech Optimizer

February 20, 2025

EDB Postgres® AI Significantly Outperforms Oracle, SQL Server, MongoDB, and MySQL in New Benchmark Study

EnterpriseDB (EDB) has released findings from a benchmark study by McKnight Consulting Group, showing that EDB Postgres AI outperforms Oracle, SQL Server, MongoDB, and MySQL in various workloads, including transactional, analytical, and AI tasks. Key performance metrics include being 150 times faster than MongoDB in processing JSON data, 4 times faster than MySQL in handling insert operations, and outperforming Oracle by 17% and SQL Server by 30% in processing New Orders Per Minute (NOPM). EDB Postgres AI also offers 7 times better price performance than Oracle and 6 times better than SQL Server. The study highlights the challenges enterprises face with legacy systems consuming 55% of IT budgets, which hampers modernization efforts. EDB Postgres AI aims to address these challenges by streamlining data infrastructure, reducing total cost of ownership, and facilitating AI capabilities in a secure environment.

Tech Optimizer

February 20, 2025

Magaya enhances performance with Tessell’s PostgreSQL

Magaya Corporation enhanced its database infrastructure by using Tessell's managed PostgreSQL solution, improving database performance and operational efficiency. After being acquired by a private equity firm in 2023, Magaya migrated customers from the Classic system to the Blue Ivory platform but faced initial performance issues with Blue Ivory's database. The original PostgreSQL setup was not optimized for high-volume queries, leading to bottlenecks, and reliance on a single PostgreSQL expert posed operational risks. Tessell's managed PostgreSQL platform transformed Blue Ivory, achieving a tenfold improvement in query execution speeds and enhancing logistics operations to handle tens of thousands of rows per second. The migration to AWS was seamless, with optimizations in partitioning strategies, memory buffers, and disk I/O. Tessell provided 24/7 expert support, reducing dependency on a single in-house DBA. The optimizations prepared Magaya's Blue Ivory platform for sustainable growth, enabling quicker customer onboarding and smoother migrations, and allowing support for both multi-tenant and single-tenant deployments. This transition to a cloud-native solution met ROI expectations for private equity investors, enhancing growth and profitability. The partnership with Tessell modernized Magaya's database infrastructure and strengthened its position in the logistics and supply chain technology sector.

AppWizard

February 20, 2025

The best uniques in Avowed that you can grab early in the game

Avowed features unique weapons and armor that enhance gameplay and simplify gear upgrading. Unique items have distinctive names and special effects, providing bonus skills or elemental enhancements. They can scale in quality based on the player's gear tier, making early-game unique items valuable investments. Notable unique items include: - Beothel's Grimoire: Found at a magical merchant in Paradis, it offers a loop of spells for 450 currency. - Drawn in Winter: A one-handed axe found in ice at Watcher’s Mirror, it deals area-of-effect ice damage. - Stelgaer’s Pride: A medium armor set obtained from the Intimidating Feline Codpiece treasure map, providing stamina regeneration and damage reduction. - Steel Garrote Gauntlets: Located in Ondra’s Reach, these gauntlets enhance parry efficiency for shield users. - Last Light of Day: A flaming sword obtained during the Dawntreader quest, offering fire damage and a heal-on-kill effect. - Caeroc's Pride: A lightning pistol from Tempestuous Luandi's bounty, known for its bonus lightning damage. - The Disappointer: A weapon from a shady merchant in Paradis Hightown, which can be enhanced to turn its negative attributes into advantages.

AppWizard

February 19, 2025

‘Just couldn’t dodge that big boot I guess, no matter how big the success of the gig’: Marvel Rivals developers in the US say NetEase just laid off their whole team

NetEase has confirmed layoffs affecting the development team behind Marvel Rivals, specifically reducing the design team based in Seattle for organizational reasons. The company emphasized its commitment to treating impacted employees with confidentiality and respect. Despite the layoffs, NetEase stated that the core development team in China remains dedicated to enhancing the game, which has over 200,000 active players on Steam and reportedly generated an estimated million in its first month. Currently, there are no Seattle-based developers working on Marvel Rivals. The layoffs have raised questions given the game's financial success, and industry observers speculate this may be part of a broader strategy to streamline the development team. NetEase has also been scaling back its U.S. operations recently.

AppWizard

February 19, 2025

NetEase makes cuts to US Marvel Rivals team

NetEase has initiated layoffs within its Seattle-based Marvel Rivals team, as confirmed by the company in a statement. The decision was made to adjust the development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency. The layoffs specifically affected the design team, while the Chinese development team remains unchanged. NetEase expressed gratitude for the contributions of those impacted and reaffirmed its commitment to delivering new content for the game.

Winsage

February 19, 2025

Microsoft declutters Windows 11 File Explorer for GDPR

Microsoft released the Windows 11 24H2 preview build, 26120.3281, in the Dev and Beta channels, marking the end of the Location History API and addressing European privacy regulations. The Location History feature, which allowed Cortana to access location data for up to 24 hours, has been removed, meaning location data will no longer be saved locally. Microsoft has also disabled account-based content in File Explorer for Entra IDs within the European Economic Area (EEA) to comply with privacy laws, affecting sections like Recent, Favorites, and Recommended content. Additionally, a new feature will allow users to resume OneDrive files from mobile devices to PCs with one click, but an upcoming change will delete all existing snapshots in Recall. There is no timeline for when these updates will be available to the general public.