The hll extension in PostgreSQL provides a HyperLogLog data structure for approximate distinct counting. It is highly efficient for estimating the number of unique elements in large datasets while using minimal memory. Your Nile database arrives with hll extension already enabled. Let’s create a sample analytics system that efficiently tracks unique user interactions. We’ll use a fact table to store raw events and leverage HLL (HyperLogLog) for efficient approximate distinct counting in our aggregated statistics. This pattern is common in analytics systems where you need to track unique users across different time periods while maintaining reasonable storage and query performance.

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Creating and Populating events Table

Let’s create a sample table to store unique user interactions, using HLL for approximate distinct counts: 
-- First, create a tenant
INSERT INTO tenants (id, name) VALUES ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', 'Acme Corp');

-- Create a fact table for raw events
CREATE TABLE event_facts (
    tenant_id UUID NOT NULL,
    event_timestamp TIMESTAMP,
    user_id INT,
    event_type TEXT
);

-- Create an aggregated table with HLL for efficient unique counting
CREATE TABLE daily_event_stats (
    tenant_id UUID NOT NULL,
    event_date DATE,
    event_type TEXT,
    unique_users_hll HLL,    -- Stores the set of all unique users for this day and event type
    PRIMARY KEY (tenant_id, event_date, event_type)
);

-- Insert some raw events
INSERT INTO event_facts (tenant_id, event_timestamp, user_id, event_type) 
VALUES 
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-01 10:00:00', 1, 'click'),
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-01 10:05:00', 2, 'click'),
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-01 10:10:00', 3, 'click'),
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-01 10:15:00', 1, 'click'),  -- duplicate user
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-02 10:00:00', 2, 'click'),
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-02 10:05:00', 4, 'click'),
    ('123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000', '2024-03-02 10:10:00', 5, 'click');

-- Aggregate the raw events into daily stats using HLL
SET nile.tenant_id = '123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000';
INSERT INTO daily_event_stats
SELECT 
    tenant_id,
    date_trunc('day', event_timestamp)::DATE as event_date,
    event_type,
    hll_add_agg(hll_hash_integer(user_id))
FROM event_facts
GROUP BY tenant_id,date_trunc('day', event_timestamp)::DATE, event_type;

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Understanding HLL Hashing

Before values can be added to an HLL data structure, they must first be hashed. The hll extension provides several hashing functions for different data types:
  • hll_hash_integer(value) - for integer values
  • hll_hash_text(value) - for text values
  • hll_hash_bytea(value) - for binary data
  • hll_hash_any(value) - for other data types
These hash functions convert the input values into consistent hash values that the HLL algorithm can process. Hashing ensures that:
  1. Values are uniformly distributed
  2. The same input always produces the same hash
  3. Different inputs are likely to produce different hashes

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Approximate Counting with HLL - Estimating the Number of Unique Users

Here’s how to estimate the number of unique users for each event type across all dates. Note that you can’t simply add up the HLL values to get the total distinct count, as this would double-count users. Instead, you need to use the hll_union_agg function: 
SELECT event_type, hll_cardinality(hll_union_agg(unique_users_hll)) AS estimated_unique_users
FROM daily_event_stats
GROUP BY event_type;

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Use Cases

  • Efficient distinct counting for large-scale analytics.
  • Web traffic analysis (e.g., unique visitors per day).
  • Approximate user engagement tracking.
  • Optimized analytics dashboards that require fast estimations.

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Limitations

  • HyperLogLog provides an approximate distinct count, not an exact value.
  • The accuracy of estimates depends on the HLL precision settings.
  • Cannot retrieve individual elements once they are added to an HLL aggregate.

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Conclusion

The hll extension in PostgreSQL is an efficient solution for large-scale distinct counting, offering fast and memory-efficient approximations. It is particularly useful for analytics and tracking unique values over time. For more details, refer to the hll GitHub repository.