Re: New server to improve performance on our large and busy DB - advice?

Hi Scott,

Sorry for the very late reply on this post, but I'd like to follow up. The
reason that I took so long to reply was due to this suggestion:

<<Run vacuum verbose to see if you're
overrunning the max_fsm_pages settings or the max_fsm_relations.
>>

My first thought was, does he mean against the entire DB? That would take a
week! But, since it was recommended, I decided to see what would happen. So,
I just ran VACUUM VERBOSE. After five days, it was still vacuuming and the
server admin said they needed to bounce the server, which means the command
never completed (I kept the log of the progress so far, but don't know if
the values you needed would appear at the end. I confess I have no idea how
to relate the INFO and DETAIL data coming back with regards to max_fsm_pages
settings or the max_fsm_relations.

So, now my questions are:

1) Did you really mean you wanted VACUUM VERBOSE to run against the entire
DB?
2) Given my previous comments on the size of the DB (and my thinking that
this is an exceptionally large and busy DB) were you expecting it to take
this long?
3) I took no exceptional measures before running it, I didn't stop the
automated import processes, I didn't turn off autovacuum. Would this have
accounted for the time it is taking to THAT degree?
4) Any other way to get max_fsm_pages settings and max_fsm_relations?

Carlo