analyzing-range-distribution

Analyzing Range Distribution

Analyzes CockroachDB range distribution, leaseholder placement, and zone configuration compliance using SHOW RANGES and SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS commands. Identifies range count anomalies, size imbalances, leaseholder hotspots, and replication issues - entirely via SQL without requiring DB Console access.

Complement to profiling skills: This skill analyzes range-level data distribution; for query performance patterns, see profiling-statement-fingerprints. For schema change storage planning, see analyzing-schema-change-storage-risk.

When to Use This Skill

• Identify tables/indexes with excessive range counts indicating fragmentation
• Detect range size imbalances or uneven data distribution across nodes
• Investigate leaseholder concentration causing read hotspots
• Validate zone configuration effects on range placement and replica distribution
• Diagnose range-level replication issues (under-replicated or unavailable ranges)
• Analyze range split patterns from high write volume
• SQL-only range analysis without DB Console access

For schema change planning: Use analyzing-schema-change-storage-risk to estimate storage requirements before CREATE INDEX or ADD COLUMN operations.

Prerequisites

• SQL connection to CockroachDB cluster
• Admin role OR ZONECONFIG system privilege
• Understanding of CockroachDB range architecture (default 512MB max size; verify with SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATION FOR RANGE default)
• Knowledge of cluster topology (node IDs, regions, availability zones)

Check your privileges:

SHOW SYSTEM GRANTS FOR <username>;  -- Should show admin or ZONECONFIG

See permissions reference for RBAC setup.

Core Concepts

Ranges: Units of Data Distribution

Range: Contiguous key space segment (default 512MB max size, configurable via zone config range_max_bytes) Raft group: Each range replicated across nodes (default 3 replicas) Leaseholder: Single replica handling reads and coordinating writes for a range

Critical: Ranges split automatically at range_max_bytes (default 512MB), but can fragment further due to load-based splitting during high write traffic.

Leaseholders and Hotspots

Leaseholder concentration: Single node holding disproportionate leaseholders = read hotspot Load-based splitting: CockroachDB splits ranges experiencing high QPS, increasing range count Hotspot symptoms: High CPU on single node, slow reads on specific table/index

Range Fragmentation

Fragmentation: Excessive range splits creating many small ranges (overhead from Raft coordination) Causes: High write throughput, sequential inserts (timestamp-based primary keys), load-based splitting Symptoms: High range count relative to data size, increased latency from Raft overhead

Fragmentation metric: Ranges per GB. With the 512MB default range_max_bytes, a fully-grown range covers 0.5 GB — so ~2 ranges/GB is the natural floor. Anything well above that (e.g., 10+ ranges/GB) suggests load-based splits or many small ranges; tune to your workload.

Zone Configurations

Zone config: Replication and placement policies for databases, tables, or indexes Replication factor: Number of replicas per range (default: 3) Constraints: Node placement rules (region, availability zone, node attributes)

Use case: Validate intended zone config matches actual range placement.

SHOW RANGES DETAILS Option

CRITICAL SAFETY WARNING: The WITH DETAILS option computes span_stats (range size, key counts) on-demand, causing:

• High CPU usage from statistics computation
• Memory overhead proportional to range count
• Query timeouts on large tables without LIMIT

Best practice: Always use LIMIT with DETAILS, target specific tables/indexes, avoid cluster-wide scans.

Core Diagnostic Queries

Query 1: Range Count by Table (Production-Safe)

SELECT
  table_name,
  index_name,
  COUNT(*) AS range_count
FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name]
GROUP BY table_name, index_name
ORDER BY range_count DESC;

Interpretation: High range count (1000s) on small tables indicates fragmentation. Cross-reference with table size.

Safety: No DETAILS option = production-safe, minimal overhead.

Query 2: Range Size Analysis (Targeted DETAILS)

SELECT
  range_id,
  start_key,
  end_key,
  (span_stats->>'approximate_disk_bytes')::INT / 1048576 AS size_mb,
  lease_holder,
  replicas
FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name WITH DETAILS]
ORDER BY (span_stats->>'approximate_disk_bytes')::INT DESC
LIMIT 50;

Interpretation: Ranges close to or above range_max_bytes (default 512MB) indicate split lag; many small ranges (<10MB) indicate fragmentation.

CRITICAL: Always include LIMIT and target specific tables. Never run SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS on entire database.

Query 3: Leaseholder Distribution (Hotspot Detection)

SELECT
  lease_holder,
  COUNT(*) AS leaseholder_count,
  ROUND(COUNT(*) * 100.0 / SUM(COUNT(*)) OVER (), 2) AS percentage
FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name]
GROUP BY lease_holder
ORDER BY leaseholder_count DESC;

Interpretation: >40% leaseholders on single node in balanced cluster = hotspot. Check if table has zone constraints favoring specific nodes.

Remediation: Use ALTER TABLE ... CONFIGURE ZONE USING lease_preferences to spread leaseholders.

Query 4: Range Replication Health Check

SELECT
  range_id,
  start_key,
  replicas,
  array_length(replicas, 1) AS replica_count,
  voting_replicas,
  array_length(voting_replicas, 1) AS voting_replica_count,
  lease_holder
FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name]
WHERE array_length(replicas, 1) < 3  -- Under-replicated
ORDER BY range_id
LIMIT 100;

Interpretation: replica_count < 3 = under-replicated (data loss risk). Check for node failures, decommissioning operations, or zone config mismatches.

Safety: No DETAILS = production-safe.

Query 5: Zone Configuration Audit

SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS;

Output columns:

• target: Database, table, or index
• raw_config_sql: Zone config SQL (replication factor, constraints)

Use case: Validate intended replication factor and placement constraints match expected design.

Cross-reference: Compare zone configs with Query 3 (leaseholder distribution) and Query 4 (replica health) to validate actual placement.

Query 6: Fragmentation Analysis (Ranges per GB)

WITH range_counts AS (
  SELECT
    table_name,
    index_name,
    COUNT(*) AS range_count
  FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name]
  GROUP BY table_name, index_name
),
table_sizes AS (
  SELECT
    table_name,
    SUM((span_stats->>'approximate_disk_bytes')::INT) / 1073741824.0 AS size_gb
  FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE your_table_name WITH DETAILS]
  GROUP BY table_name
)
SELECT
  rc.table_name,
  rc.index_name,
  rc.range_count,
  ts.size_gb,
  ROUND(rc.range_count / NULLIF(ts.size_gb, 0), 2) AS ranges_per_gb
FROM range_counts rc
JOIN table_sizes ts ON rc.table_name = ts.table_name
ORDER BY ranges_per_gb DESC;

Interpretation:

• Healthy: 1-15 ranges/GB
• Moderate fragmentation: 16-50 ranges/GB
• Severe fragmentation: 50+ ranges/GB

CRITICAL: This query uses DETAILS - only run on targeted tables with known size, never cluster-wide.

Remediation: Increase range_max_bytes via zone config (with caution), or accept fragmentation if caused by necessary load-based splitting.

See sql-queries reference for complete query variations and guardrails.

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Hotspot Investigation

Scenario: Single node experiencing high CPU, slow reads on specific table.

Steps:

1. Identify leaseholder concentration: Run Query 3 on suspected table
2. Validate zone config: Run Query 5 to check lease_preferences
3. Check for load-based splits: Run Query 1 to detect recent range fragmentation (symptom of hotspot)
4. Remediate: Configure lease preferences to spread reads, or partition table if hotspot is on sequential key range

Example:

-- Check leaseholder distribution
SELECT lease_holder, COUNT(*) FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE hot_table] GROUP BY lease_holder;

-- Validate zone config
SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATION FOR TABLE hot_table;

-- Spread leaseholders if concentrated
ALTER TABLE hot_table CONFIGURE ZONE USING lease_preferences = '[[+region=us-west]]';

Workflow 2: Zone Config Validation

Scenario: After configuring multi-region setup, validate ranges are placed according to constraints.

Steps:

1. Review intended configs: Run Query 5 (SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS)
2. Check actual replica placement: Run Query 4 on critical tables, inspect replicas array for node IDs
3. Map node IDs to regions: Use SHOW REGIONS (cluster-wide) or read the locality column of cockroach node status
4. Identify mismatches: Ranges not matching constraints indicate rebalancing in progress or misconfiguration

Example:

-- Show zone config
SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATION FOR TABLE multi_region_table;

-- Check replica placement
SELECT range_id, replicas FROM [SHOW RANGES FROM TABLE multi_region_table] LIMIT 20;

-- Map node IDs to regions (cluster-level view)
SHOW REGIONS;
-- For per-node locality strings, use the CLI:
--   cockroach node status --certs-dir=<certs-dir> --host=<any-live-node>

Workflow 3: Fragmentation Diagnosis

Scenario: Table with high range count relative to size, experiencing latency.

Steps:

1. Calculate ranges per GB: Run Query 6 (targeted to specific table)
2. Check for load-based splits: Review write patterns (sequential inserts, high QPS periods)
3. Determine if expected: Fragmentation may be intentional for load distribution
4. Remediate if excessive: Increase range_max_bytes (with caution - larger ranges = slower splits), or investigate reducing write hotspots

CRITICAL: range_max_bytes defaults to 512MB. Raising it further without understanding the impact on split/rebalance performance is risky.

Safety Considerations

DETAILS Option Cost

Resource impact:

• CPU: Computes span statistics on-demand for each range
• Memory: Proportional to range count returned
• Timeout risk: High on tables with 1000s of ranges without LIMIT

Mitigation strategies:

1. Always use LIMIT: Cap at 50-100 ranges for exploratory analysis
2. Target specific tables: Use FROM TABLE table_name, never cluster-wide SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS
3. Use basic queries first: Run Query 1 (no DETAILS) to assess range count before using DETAILS
4. Production timing: Run during maintenance windows or low-traffic periods

Privilege Safety

Admin role: Full cluster access, use with caution in production ZONECONFIG privilege: Limited to viewing ranges and zone configs, safer for read-only analysis

Best practice: Grant ZONECONFIG instead of admin for range analysis operators.

See permissions reference for granting minimal privileges.

Production Impact

Read-only operations: All queries are SELECT or SHOW statements with no writes.

Performance considerations:

Query Type	Impact	Safe for Production?
Basic SHOW RANGES	Minimal CPU, metadata-only	Yes
SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS (targeted, LIMIT 50)	Moderate CPU spike	Yes (low-traffic window)
SHOW RANGES WITH DETAILS (no LIMIT)	High CPU, timeout risk	NO - NEVER USE
SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS	Minimal, metadata-only	Yes

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Fix
Permission denied	Missing admin or ZONECONFIG privilege	Grant ZONECONFIG: GRANT SYSTEM ZONECONFIG TO user
Query timeout with DETAILS	Too many ranges without LIMIT	Add LIMIT 50, target specific table
Empty span_stats column	Missing DETAILS keyword	Add WITH DETAILS to SHOW RANGES
Unexpected high range count	Load-based splitting or fragmentation	Run Query 6 to calculate ranges/GB, review write patterns
Leaseholder = 0 or NULL	Range in transition during rebalancing	Normal during cluster changes, retry query
Under-replicated ranges	Node failure, decommission, zone mismatch	Check node status, validate zone config constraints
SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS shows no custom configs	Using default cluster-wide config	Normal if no table/database-level overrides set

Key Considerations

• DETAILS option: Expensive operation - always use with LIMIT and targeted scope
• Fragmentation is sometimes intentional: Load-based splitting improves concurrency
• Leaseholder concentration: Check zone configs (lease_preferences) before assuming hotspot
• Range size target: Default range_max_bytes is 512MB (verify with SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATION FOR RANGE default)
• Replication lag: Range placement may not immediately reflect zone config changes (rebalancing takes time)
• Cross-reference queries: Combine range analysis with zone configs for complete picture
• Node mapping: Use SHOW REGIONS for cluster-level locality, or cockroach node status for per-node locality

References

Skill references:

• SQL query variations and guardrails
• RBAC and privileges setup

Official CockroachDB Documentation:

• SHOW RANGES
• SHOW ZONE CONFIGURATIONS
• Architecture: Distribution Layer
• Configure Replication Zones
• ZONECONFIG privilege

Related skills:

• profiling-statement-fingerprints - For query performance analysis
• triaging-live-sql-activity - For real-time query triage
• analyzing-schema-change-storage-risk - For estimating storage requirements before DDL operations