Re: pg_stat_get_last_vacuum_time(): why non-FULL?

CR Lender <crlender(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> According to the manual (9.1), pg_stat_get_last_vacuum_time() returns
>
>     timestamptz | Time of the last non-FULL vacuum initiated by the
>                 | user on this table
>
> Why are full vacuums excluded from this statistic? It looks like there's
> no way to get the date of the last manual vacuum, if only full vacuums
> are performed.

Because FULL is a bit of a misnomer -- there are important things a
non-FULL vacuum does which a FULL vacuum does not.  In general, a
VACUUM FULL should be followed by a non-FULL vacuum to keep the
database in good shape.  Also, a VACUUM FULL is an extreme form of
maintenance which should rarely be needed; if you find that you
need to run VACUUM FULL, something is probably being done wrong
which should be fixed so that you don't need to continue to do such
extreme maintenance.

--
Kevin Grittner
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company