Re: Upgrade to dual processor machine?

dear shridhar,

> Yes. 2*max connection is minimum. Anything additional is always welcome as long
> as it does not starve the system.

ok, I tried to set shared_buffers to 65535 now. but then restarting postgres
fails - it says:

IpcMemoryCreate: shmget(key=5432001, size=545333248, 03600) failed: Invalid argument

and a message telling me to either lower the shared_buffers or raise the
SHMMAX.

> If you have a gig of memory and shared buffers are 536MB as you have indicated,
> who is taking rest of the RAM?

well, I guess it's postgres... see the output of top below:

11:06am up 1 day, 16:46, 1 user, load average: 1,32, 1,12, 1,22
53 processes: 52 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 24,5% user, 11,2% system, 0,0% nice, 5,6% idle
Mem: 1020808K av, 1006156K used, 14652K free, 8520K shrd, 37204K buff
Swap: 1028112K av, 60K used, 1028052K free 849776K cached

PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND
10678 root 19 0 2184 2184 1584 S 2,9 0,2 0:00 sendmail
1 root 8 0 520 520 452 S 0,0 0,0 0:03 init
2 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 keventd
3 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kapm-idled
4 root 19 19 0 0 0 SWN 0,0 0,0 0:00 ksoftirqd_CPU0
5 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:28 kswapd
6 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kreclaimd
7 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:09 bdflush
8 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kupdated
9 root -1 -20 0 0 0 SW< 0,0 0,0 0:00 mdrecoveryd
13 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
136 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
137 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
138 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
139 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
140 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 2:16 kjournald
378 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 eth0
454 root 9 0 572 572 476 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 syslogd
459 root 9 0 1044 1044 392 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 klogd
572 root 8 0 1128 1092 968 S 0,0 0,1 0:07 sshd
584 root 9 0 1056 1056 848 S 0,0 0,1 0:02 nlservd
611 root 8 0 1836 1820 1288 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 sendmail
693 root 9 0 640 640 556 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 crond
729 daemon 9 0 472 464 404 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 atd
736 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
737 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
738 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
739 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
740 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
741 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
9800 root 9 0 1888 1864 1552 S 0,0 0,1 0:02 sshd
9801 root 16 0 1368 1368 1016 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 bash
10574 postgres 0 0 1448 1448 1380 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 postmaster
10576 postgres 9 0 1436 1436 1388 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 postmaster
10577 postgres 9 0 1480 1480 1388 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 postmaster
10579 postgres 14 0 11500 11M 10324 S 0,0 1,1 0:08 postmaster
10580 postgres 9 0 11672 11M 10328 S 0,0 1,1 0:03 postmaster
10581 postgres 14 0 11620 11M 10352 S 0,0 1,1 0:08 postmaster
10585 postgres 11 0 11560 11M 10304 S 0,0 1,1 0:08 postmaster
10588 postgres 9 0 11520 11M 10316 S 0,0 1,1 0:14 postmaster
10589 postgres 9 0 11632 11M 10324 S 0,0 1,1 0:06 postmaster
10590 postgres 10 0 11620 11M 10320 S 0,0 1,1 0:06 postmaster
10591 postgres 9 0 11536 11M 10320 S 0,0 1,1 0:08 postmaster
10592 postgres 11 0 11508 11M 10316 S 0,0 1,1 0:04 postmaster
10595 postgres 9 0 11644 11M 10324 S 0,0 1,1 0:03 postmaster
10596 postgres 11 0 11664 11M 10328 S 0,0 1,1 0:08 postmaster
10597 postgres 9 0 11736 11M 10340 S 0,0 1,1 0:24 postmaster
10598 postgres 9 0 11500 11M 10312 S 0,0 1,1 0:10 postmaster
10599 postgres 11 0 11676 11M 10324 S 0,0 1,1 0:13 postmaster
10602 postgres 9 0 11476 11M 10308 S 0,0 1,1 0:09 postmaster
10652 postgres 9 0 7840 7840 7020 S 0,0 0,7 0:00 postmaster
10669 postgres 9 0 9076 9076 8224 S 0,0 0,8 0:00 postmaster
10677 root 13 0 1032 1028 828 R 0,0 0,1 0:00 top

I have now changed the SHMMAX settings to 545333248 and changed the
shared_buffers to 65535 again. now postgres starts up correctly.

the top result changes to:

11:40am up 1 day, 17:20, 1 user, load average: 2,24, 2,51, 2,14
57 processes: 55 sleeping, 2 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 24,7% user, 11,3% system, 0,0% nice, 6,2% idle
Mem: 1020808K av, 1015844K used, 4964K free, 531420K shrd, 24796K buff
Swap: 1028112K av, 60K used, 1028052K free 338376K cached

PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND
11010 root 17 0 1036 1032 828 R 14,2 0,1 0:00 top
11007 postgres 14 0 14268 13M 12668 R 9,7 1,3 0:00 postmaster
11011 root 9 0 2184 2184 1584 S 3,0 0,2 0:00 sendmail
1 root 8 0 520 520 452 S 0,0 0,0 0:03 init
2 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 keventd
3 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kapm-idled
4 root 19 19 0 0 0 SWN 0,0 0,0 0:00 ksoftirqd_CPU0
5 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:29 kswapd
6 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kreclaimd
7 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:09 bdflush
8 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kupdated
9 root -1 -20 0 0 0 SW< 0,0 0,0 0:00 mdrecoveryd
13 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
136 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
137 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
138 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
139 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 kjournald
140 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 2:18 kjournald
378 root 9 0 0 0 0 SW 0,0 0,0 0:00 eth0
454 root 9 0 572 572 476 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 syslogd
459 root 9 0 1044 1044 392 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 klogd
572 root 8 0 1128 1092 968 S 0,0 0,1 0:07 sshd
584 root 9 0 1056 1056 848 S 0,0 0,1 0:02 nlservd
611 root 9 0 1836 1820 1288 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 sendmail
693 root 9 0 640 640 556 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 crond
729 daemon 9 0 472 464 404 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 atd
736 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
737 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
738 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
739 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
740 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
741 root 9 0 448 448 384 S 0,0 0,0 0:00 mingetty
9800 root 9 0 1888 1864 1552 S 0,0 0,1 0:03 sshd
9801 root 10 0 1368 1368 1016 S 0,0 0,1 0:00 bash
10838 postgres 7 0 6992 6992 6924 S 0,0 0,6 0:00 postmaster
10840 postgres 9 0 6984 6984 6932 S 0,0 0,6 0:00 postmaster
10841 postgres 9 0 7024 7024 6932 S 0,0 0,6 0:00 postmaster
10852 postgres 9 0 489M 489M 487M S 0,0 49,0 0:32 postmaster
10869 postgres 9 0 357M 357M 356M S 0,0 35,8 0:21 postmaster
10908 postgres 9 0 263M 263M 262M S 0,0 26,4 0:20 postmaster
10909 postgres 9 0 283M 283M 281M S 0,0 28,4 0:19 postmaster
10932 postgres 9 0 288M 288M 286M S 0,0 28,9 0:13 postmaster
10946 postgres 9 0 213M 213M 211M S 0,0 21,4 0:06 postmaster
10947 postgres 9 0 239M 239M 238M S 0,0 24,0 0:07 postmaster
10948 postgres 9 0 292M 292M 290M S 0,0 29,2 0:09 postmaster
10957 postgres 9 0 214M 214M 212M S 0,0 21,5 0:10 postmaster
10964 postgres 9 0 58156 56M 56400 S 0,0 5,6 0:05 postmaster
10974 postgres 9 0 50860 49M 49120 S 0,0 4,9 0:04 postmaster
10975 postgres 9 0 209M 209M 207M S 0,0 21,0 0:04 postmaster
10976 postgres 9 0 174M 174M 172M S 0,0 17,5 0:08 postmaster
10977 postgres 9 0 52484 51M 50932 S 0,0 5,1 0:05 postmaster
10990 postgres 9 0 199M 199M 197M S 0,0 19,9 0:06 postmaster
10993 postgres 9 0 141M 141M 139M S 0,0 14,1 0:01 postmaster
10998 postgres 9 0 181M 181M 180M S 0,0 18,2 0:04 postmaster
10999 postgres 9 0 139M 139M 138M S 0,0 14,0 0:01 postmaster
11001 postgres 9 0 45484 44M 43948 S 0,0 4,4 0:01 postmaster
11006 postgres 9 0 15276 14M 13952 S 0,0 1,4 0:00 postmaster

now, does this look better in your eyes?

> What are your current settings? Could you please repost. I lost earlier
> thread(Sorry for that.. Had a HDD meltdown here couple of days back. Lost few
> mails..)

do you need more information here?