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Optimize node collection indexes #706

Description

@nuclearcat

Background

The production node collection (35.6M docs) has 19 indexes totaling
~11.8 GB — 38% of all data on disk
(storageSize 19 GB, indexSize
11.8 GB). Every node insert/update pays maintenance cost on all of them,
and they inflate physical backup size and restore time.

$indexStats from production (window: ~2 days since pod restart on
2026-07-06) shows roughly half of them unused.

Finding 1: no node indexes are managed by code

Node in kernelci-core does not implement get_indexes(), so
db.create_indexes() creates nothing for the node collection. All 18
non-_id indexes were created manually on the server with no record of
why. Whatever survives this cleanup should be added to
Node.get_indexes() (kernelci-core api/models.py) so the index set is
code-managed and reproducible.

Finding 2: redundant indexes — safe to drop now

  • data.kernel_revision.commit_1 (12k ops) — fully covered by the
    compound
    data.kernel_revision.commit_1_data.kernel_revision.branch_1_data.kernel_revision.tree_1
    (prefix rule). Drop the single, keep the compound.
  • created_1_updated_-1 (0 ops) — created_1 is its prefix and is
    in active use (likely the node purge job). Drop the compound, keep
    created_1.
  • id_1 (0 ops) — the API maps id_id; documents likely have
    no id field. Verify with
    db.node.countDocuments({id: {$exists: true}}) — if 0, drop.

Finding 3: zero-usage indexes — hide, observe, then drop

Zero ops in the sample window, but the window is too short to catch
weekly/monthly jobs. Hide them (planner stops using them, instantly
reversible with unhideIndex), observe 2–4 weeks, then drop what nobody
missed:

  • updated_1
  • treeid_1 (sparse)
  • owner_1
  • data.error_code_1
  • result_1
  • group_1
  • data.kernel_revision.branch_1
  • data.kernel_revision.tree_1
db.node.hideIndex("<name>")

Indexes confirmed in active use (keep)

_id_ (4.0M ops), parent_1 (2.3M), state_1 (712k), kind_1 (241k),
data.kernel_revision.commit_1_..._tree_1 compound,
processed_by_kcidb_bridge_1_updated_-1, name_1, created_1.

Expected impact

  • Estimated 2–4 GB reduction in index footprint (more after observation
    phase drops).
  • Reduced write amplification on every node insert/update.
  • Smaller physical backups and faster restores.

Plan

  1. Capture per-index sizes:
    db.node.aggregate([{$collStats: {storageStats: {}}}])
    indexSizes
  2. Drop data.kernel_revision.commit_1, created_1_updated_-1;
    verify and drop id_1
  3. Hide the 8 zero-usage indexes, re-check $indexStats after
    2–4 weeks
  4. Drop unused ones
  5. Add surviving indexes to Node.get_indexes() in kernelci-core

Issue written with help of Codex AI assistant

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