PostgreSQL: Sequential scan despite having indexes - postgresql

Question

I have the following two tables.
person_addresses
address_normalization
The person_addresses table has a field named address_id as the primary key and address_normalization has the corresponding field address_id which has an index on it.
Now, when I explain the following query, I see a sequential scan.
SELECT
count(*)
FROM
mp_member2.person_addresses pa
JOIN mp_member2.address_normalization an ON
an.address_id = pa.address_id
WHERE
an.sr_modification_time >= 1550692189468;
-- Result: 2654
Please refer to the following screenshot.
You see that there is a sequential scan after the hash join. I'm not sure I understand this part; why would a sequential scan follow a hash join.
And as seen in the query above, the set of records returned is also low.
Is this expected behaviour or am I doing something wrong?
Update #1: I also have indices on the sr_modification_time fields of both the tables
Update #2: Full execution plan
Aggregate (cost=206944.74..206944.75 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=2807.844..2807.844 rows=1 loops=1)
Buffers: shared hit=4629 read=82217
-> Hash Join (cost=2881.95..206825.15 rows=47836 width=0) (actual time=0.775..2807.160 rows=2654 loops=1)
Hash Cond: (pa.address_id = an.address_id)
Buffers: shared hit=4629 read=82217
-> Seq Scan on person_addresses pa (cost=0.00..135924.93 rows=4911993 width=8) (actual time=0.005..1374.610 rows=4911993 loops=1)
Buffers: shared hit=4588 read=82217
-> Hash (cost=2432.05..2432.05 rows=35992 width=18) (actual time=0.756..0.756 rows=1005 loops=1)
Buckets: 4096 Batches: 1 Memory Usage: 41kB
Buffers: shared hit=41
-> Index Scan using mp_member2_address_normalization_mod_time on address_normalization an (cost=0.43..2432.05 rows=35992 width=18) (actual time=0.012..0.424 rows=1005 loops=1)
Index Cond: (sr_modification_time >= 1550692189468::bigint)
Buffers: shared hit=41
Planning time: 0.244 ms
Execution time: 2807.885 ms
Update #3: I tried with a newer timestamp and it used an index scan.
EXPLAIN (
ANALYZE
, buffers
, format TEXT
) SELECT
COUNT(*)
FROM
mp_member2.person_addresses pa
JOIN mp_member2.address_normalization an ON
an.address_id = pa.address_id
WHERE
an.sr_modification_time >= 1557507300342;
-- count: 1364
Query Plan:
Aggregate (cost=295.48..295.49 rows=1 width=0) (actual time=2.770..2.770 rows=1 loops=1)
Buffers: shared hit=1404
-> Nested Loop (cost=4.89..295.43 rows=19 width=0) (actual time=0.038..2.491 rows=1364 loops=1)
Buffers: shared hit=1404
-> Index Scan using mp_member2_address_normalization_mod_time on address_normalization an (cost=0.43..8.82 rows=14 width=18) (actual time=0.009..0.142 rows=341 loops=1)
Index Cond: (sr_modification_time >= 1557507300342::bigint)
Buffers: shared hit=14
-> Bitmap Heap Scan on person_addresses pa (cost=4.46..20.43 rows=4 width=8) (actual time=0.004..0.005 rows=4 loops=341)
Recheck Cond: (address_id = an.address_id)
Heap Blocks: exact=360
Buffers: shared hit=1390
-> Bitmap Index Scan on idx_mp_member2_person_addresses_address_id (cost=0.00..4.46 rows=4 width=0) (actual time=0.003..0.003 rows=4 loops=341)
Index Cond: (address_id = an.address_id)
Buffers: shared hit=1030
Planning time: 0.214 ms
Execution time: 2.816 ms

Answer 1

That is the expected behavior because you don't have index for sr_modification_time so after create the hash join db has to scan the whole set to check each row for the sr_modification_time value
You should create:
index for (sr_modification_time)
or composite index for (address_id , sr_modification_time )