# Postgres is half as fast in Linux 7.0

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440/postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-linux-7-0
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440/postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-linux-7-0.md
Podcast: [The Backend Engineering Show with Hussein Nasser](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440)
Published: 2026-06-17T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hnasr/episodes/Postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-Linux-7-0-e3kt2l6
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/1eb6d14/podcast/play/121587814/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-17%2F2e5b254c-aa75-928b-95c8-ab74c65ec8d6.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440/episodes/postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-linux-7-0
Duration seconds: 2048

## Resource

An aws engineer discovered a 50% regression in postgres throughput while testing the new Linux 7.0 kernel. The cause turns out to be massive TLB and page faults exacerbated by Postgres process-based design. In this backend engineering show episode I dive deep into how this was discovered, the root cause and the possible fixes and workarounds. Intermediate and Advanced Backend Engineering Course Bundlehttps://courses.husseinnasser.com/bundleMy Book, Root Cause: Stories and Lessons from Two Decades of Backend Engineering Bugs https://amzn.to/4cKfZhe 0:00 Intro2:30 The Discovery6:30 Spinlocks9:25 Preemption 13:00 Root Cause17:00 How Postgres Processes exacerbated the problem 22:30 Is the fix easy?25:50 Summary

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440/episodes/postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-linux-7-0/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backend-engineering-show-with-hussein-nasser-847440/postgres-is-half-as-fast-in-linux-7-0.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.