Re: Postgresql performance and tuning questions

"Given, Robert A" <bgiven(at)bu(dot)edu> writes:
> Our philosophy is to use products that have been established, tested and
> stable. We tend to not go with newer versions until they have time to
> mature and have the bugs worked out. This is the version of the DB that
> was packaged with the version of Linux we're using. So our thinking is
> that we will go with that until we learn better.

It is time for you to learn better, right now.

7.4.2 is old and has numerous known bugs. There is a valid argument
for sticking to the 7.4.* series, having to do with avoiding any
possible application-compatibility issues for apps that've only been
tested with 7.4.*, but there is no reason other than vendor laziness
to still be on a two-year-old subrelease in the 7.4.* series.

7.4 is currently at 7.4.11 (by Tuesday it will be 7.4.12) and there
are a significant number of security holes and risk-of-data-loss bugs
fixed in those updates. See the release history at
http://developer.postgresql.org/docs/postgres/release.html
and then ask yourself if you still trust your Linux vendor's judgment
so much.

Or you can "learn better" the hard way, by losing data. Your choice.

regards, tom lane