Zend Framework: Postgres vs MySQL connection times

10/15/07 update: On persistent connections, see http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.pg-pconnect.php#78476 As a correction to this post and on db connection speed, see http://www.nabble.com/Re%3A-ZF-performance-advice-p13186947s16154.html


Abstract: Postgres is my preferred db but it’s running slow; should I use MySQL instead?
Answer: Nope, Postgres can be made to connect just as fast as MySQL with a small change supported by the Zend Framework’s Zend_Db.

Good news: I got my ZF Postgres db connection up and running
Bad news: it was taking 1.5 seconds just for my zf bootstrap environment to run with no db queries.

I was concerned: maybe Postgres is too slow and I should use MySQL.
So I did a little study.
The result: I got Postgres connections to be just as fast as MySQL by using persistent connections.


My setup:

Laptop: 1.2 gb ram, 1.6 ghz single core, 7200 rpm disk, Windows XP


Php 5.2
Postgres 8.2
Apache 2.2
Firefox 2.0


No query; just connect to db using Zend_Db: $db->getConnection();

With about 10 samples:

Postgres:
0.7 - 0.9 sec with occassional peaks of 1.2 sec for 1 db connect
1.4 – 1.6 sec for 2 db connects to the same db.

MySQL:
0.6 - 0.7 sec for 1 db connect
1.1 – 1.2 sec for 2 db connects to the same db.


Now, add persistent connections via:

$driver_options = array(PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true);


Postgres:
0.6 - 0.6 sec with occassional peaks of 0.8 sec for 1 db connect
1.1 – 1.2 sec for 2 db connects to the same db.

So it’s working and speeding connections up!

MySQL:
0.6 - 0.7 sec for 1 db connect
1.1 – 1.2 sec for 2 db connects to the same db.

No difference…
Does not seem to be working

Postgres is just as fast as MySQL for connections now!
So, switching to MySQL won’t help.
But the whole thing is still pretty slow…

I wonder if pgpool would help.
Anyone have any advice on pgpool?