Re: VACUUM hanging on PostgreSQL 8.3.1 for larger tables

>"Paragon" <lr(at)pcorp(dot)us> writes:
>> I am running into problems vacuuming my larger tables. It seems for
>> tables greater than 1 million rows, Vacuum just hangs. I could leave it
running
>> for hours and it never comes to completion.

>Is it actually *doing* anything, like consuming CPU or I/O -- and if so
which? How much does VACUUM VERBOSE print before getting stuck?

It just shows -
Vacuuming "ky.ky_edges" and sits there forever

> vmstat without any arguments is very nearly useless, because what it shows
you is averages since system boot. Watch "vmstat 1" for awhile and you will
> > get an actual picture of what's happening.

With no queries running vmstat 1 looks like this
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system--
-----cpu------
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
wa st
0 0 400 178832 5336 2821712 0 0 130 193 22 10 18 0 79
3 0
0 0 400 178708 5336 2822100 0 0 0 0 1024 191 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 178460 5348 2822116 0 0 0 1328 1168 182 0 0 96
4 0
1 0 400 178212 5348 2822492 0 0 0 0 1022 201 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 178088 5348 2822568 0 0 0 0 1031 196 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 177840 5348 2822860 0 0 0 0 1023 194 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 177716 5348 2822936 0 0 0 48 1009 164 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 177468 5364 2823216 0 0 4 1272 1177 228 0 0 97
3 0
0 0 400 177468 5368 2823236 0 0 4 0 1006 158 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 177468 5368 2823440 0 0 0 0 1022 177 0 0 100
0 0

--If I start the
vacuum verbose ky.ky_edges;
and monitor vmstat 1 looks like this

procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system--
-----cpu------
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
wa st
1 0 400 169408 5932 2831468 0 0 0 24 1006 184 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 169160 5956 2831616 0 0 0 1132 1108 215 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 168792 5968 2831920 0 0 128 676 1055 216 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 168544 5968 2832108 0 0 0 24 1024 193 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 168300 5992 2832212 0 0 128 1120 1098 219 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 168176 6004 2832628 0 0 0 668 1075 198 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 168052 6004 2832640 0 0 0 24 1005 195 0 0 99
1 0
0 0 400 167684 6028 2832844 0 0 128 1116 1118 224 0 0 100
0 0
0 0 400 167560 6040 2833084 0 0 0 664 1056 216 0 0 99
1 0

Thanks,
Regina