Database Performance Investigation Runbook#

When a database is slow, resist the urge to immediately tune configuration parameters. Follow this sequence: identify what is slow, understand why, then fix the specific bottleneck. Most performance problems are caused by missing indexes or a single bad query, not global configuration issues.

Phase 1 – Identify Slow Queries#

The first step is always finding which queries are consuming the most time.

PostgreSQL: pg_stat_statements#

Enable the extension if not already loaded:

Why Remote State#

Terraform stores the mapping between your configuration and real infrastructure in a state file. By default this is a local terraform.tfstate file. That breaks the moment a second person or a CI pipeline needs to run terraform apply. Remote state solves three problems: team collaboration (everyone reads the same state), CI/CD access (pipelines need state without copying files), and disaster recovery (your laptop dying should not lose your infrastructure mapping).