Sophie: postgresql8.3-docs-8.3.6-2mdv2008.1 x86

postgresql8.3-docs-8.3.6-2mdv2008.1.x86_64.rpm

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>Routine Database Maintenance Tasks</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK
REV="MADE"
HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="PostgreSQL 8.3.6 Documentation"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Server Administration"
HREF="admin.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Character Set Support"
HREF="multibyte.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Routine Vacuuming"
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html"><LINK
REL="STYLESHEET"
TYPE="text/css"
HREF="stylesheet.css"><META
HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"
CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><META
NAME="creation"
CONTENT="2009-02-03T04:34:16"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="CHAPTER"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="5"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>PostgreSQL 8.3.6 Documentation</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="multibyte.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="charset.html"
>Fast Backward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="60%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="backup.html"
>Fast Forward</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="CHAPTER"
><H1
><A
NAME="MAINTENANCE"
></A
>Chapter 23. Routine Database Maintenance Tasks</H1
><DIV
CLASS="TOC"
><DL
><DT
><B
>Table of Contents</B
></DT
><DT
>23.1. <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html"
>Routine Vacuuming</A
></DT
><DD
><DL
><DT
>23.1.1. <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-SPACE-RECOVERY"
>Recovering Disk Space</A
></DT
><DT
>23.1.2. <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-STATISTICS"
>Updating Planner Statistics</A
></DT
><DT
>23.1.3. <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-WRAPAROUND"
>Preventing Transaction ID Wraparound Failures</A
></DT
><DT
>23.1.4. <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html#AUTOVACUUM"
>The Auto-Vacuum Daemon</A
></DT
></DL
></DD
><DT
>23.2. <A
HREF="routine-reindex.html"
>Routine Reindexing</A
></DT
><DT
>23.3. <A
HREF="logfile-maintenance.html"
>Log File Maintenance</A
></DT
></DL
></DIV
><A
NAME="AEN27838"
></A
><A
NAME="AEN27840"
></A
><P
>   <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
>, like any database software, requires that certain tasks
   be performed regularly to achieve optimum performance. The tasks
   discussed here are <SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>required</I
></SPAN
>, but they
   are repetitive in nature and can easily be automated using standard
   Unix tools such as <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>cron</SPAN
> scripts or
   Windows' <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Task Scheduler</SPAN
>.  But it is the database
   administrator's responsibility to set up appropriate scripts, and to
   check that they execute successfully.
  </P
><P
>   One obvious maintenance task is creation of backup copies of the data on a
   regular schedule.  Without a recent backup, you have no chance of recovery
   after a catastrophe (disk failure, fire, mistakenly dropping a critical
   table, etc.).  The backup and recovery mechanisms available in
   <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> are discussed at length in
   <A
HREF="backup.html"
>Chapter 24</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   The other main category of maintenance task is periodic <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"vacuuming"</SPAN
>
   of the database.  This activity is discussed in
   <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html"
>Section 23.1</A
>.  Closely related to this is updating
   the statistics that will be used by the query planner, as discussed in
   <A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-STATISTICS"
>Section 23.1.2</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   Another task that might need periodic attention is log file management.
   This is discussed in <A
HREF="logfile-maintenance.html"
>Section 23.3</A
>.
  </P
><P
>   <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> is low-maintenance compared
   to some other database management systems.  Nonetheless,
   appropriate attention to these tasks will go far towards ensuring a
   pleasant and productive experience with the system.
  </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="multibyte.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="routine-vacuuming.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>Character Set Support</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="admin.html"
ACCESSKEY="U"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Routine Vacuuming</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>