Re: Severe problems with PostgreSQL 7.4.7 installation, please help!

"Peter Bauer" <peter(dot)m(dot)bauer(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> - OS: Debian Sarge with postgresql-7.4.7-6sarge1

You do know that we're up to 7.4.13 in that branch? There were some
pretty serious bugs found in 7.4 since 7.4.7, so I would strongly advise
an update.

> 4. Once, the following error prevents creation of some tables (postgresql.log):

> 2006-08-30 17:50:39 [11189] ERROR: 23505: duplicate key violates
> unique constraint "pg_class_oid_index"

That sounds like you've wrapped around the OID counter and are suffering
occasional OID collisions in generating new pg_class entries --- though
I'm doubtful that this explains any of the other failures.

The "missing attributes" complaints might possibly be due to corrupt
indexes on pg_attribute --- try reindexing it.

The other behaviors you mention don't ring a bell, but I do note that
some of the post-7.4.7 fixes are for bugs in vacuum full, so your habit
of doing a vacuum full every ten minutes may be contributing to the
system's instability. Constant vacuum-full is not considered good
practice these days anyway; have you looked into using plain vacuums and
making sure your FSM settings are high enough?

regards, tom lane