PostgreSQL 'NOT IN' and subquery

Solution 1:

When using NOT IN you should ensure that none of the values are NULL:

SELECT mac, creation_date 
FROM logs 
WHERE logs_type_id=11
AND mac NOT IN (
    SELECT mac
    FROM consols
    WHERE mac IS NOT NULL -- add this
)

Solution 2:

When using NOT IN, you should also consider NOT EXISTS, which handles the null cases silently. See also PostgreSQL Wiki

SELECT mac, creation_date 
FROM logs lo
WHERE logs_type_id=11
AND NOT EXISTS (
  SELECT *
  FROM consols nx
  WHERE nx.mac = lo.mac
  );

Solution 3:

You could also use a LEFT JOIN and IS NULL condition:

SELECT 
  mac, 
  creation_date 
FROM 
  logs
    LEFT JOIN consols ON logs.mac = consols.mac
WHERE 
  logs_type_id=11
AND
  consols.mac IS NULL;

An index on the "mac" columns might improve performance.