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>PostgreSQL 8.3.6 Documentation</TH
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>Chapter 53. Database Physical Storage</TD
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><H1
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><A
NAME="STORAGE-FILE-LAYOUT"
>53.1. Database File Layout</A
></H1
><P
>This section describes the storage format at the level of files and
directories.</P
><P
>All the data needed for a database cluster is stored within the cluster's data
directory, commonly referred to as <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
> (after the name of the
environment variable that can be used to define it).  A common location for
<TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
> is <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/var/lib/pgsql/data</TT
>.  Multiple clusters,
managed by different server instances, can exist on the same machine.</P
><P
>The <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
> directory contains several subdirectories and control
files, as shown in <A
HREF="storage-file-layout.html#PGDATA-CONTENTS-TABLE"
>Table 53-1</A
>.  In addition to
these required items, the cluster configuration files
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>postgresql.conf</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_hba.conf</TT
>, and
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_ident.conf</TT
> are traditionally stored in
<TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
> (although in <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
> 8.0 and
later, it is possible to keep them elsewhere). </P
><DIV
CLASS="TABLE"
><A
NAME="PGDATA-CONTENTS-TABLE"
></A
><P
><B
>Table 53-1. Contents of <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
></B
></P
><TABLE
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><TH
>Item</TH
><TH
>Description</TH
></TR
></THEAD
><TBODY
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>PG_VERSION</TT
></TD
><TD
>A file containing the major version number of <SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>PostgreSQL</SPAN
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>base</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing per-database subdirectories</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>global</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing cluster-wide tables, such as
 <TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_database</TT
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_clog</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing transaction commit status data</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_multixact</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing multitransaction status data
  (used for shared row locks)</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_subtrans</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing subtransaction status data</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_tblspc</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing symbolic links to tablespaces</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_twophase</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing state files for prepared transactions</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_xlog</TT
></TD
><TD
>Subdirectory containing WAL (Write Ahead Log) files</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>postmaster.opts</TT
></TD
><TD
>A file recording the command-line options the server was
last started with</TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>postmaster.pid</TT
></TD
><TD
>A lock file recording the current server PID and shared memory
segment ID (not present after server shutdown)</TD
></TR
></TBODY
></TABLE
></DIV
><P
>For each database in the cluster there is a subdirectory within
<TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/base</TT
>, named after the database's OID in
<TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_database</TT
>.  This subdirectory is the default location
for the database's files; in particular, its system catalogs are stored
there.</P
><P
>Each table and index is stored in a separate file, named after the table
or index's <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>filenode</I
> number, which can be found in
<TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_class</TT
>.<TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>relfilenode</TT
>.</P
><DIV
CLASS="CAUTION"
><P
></P
><TABLE
CLASS="CAUTION"
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WIDTH="100%"
><TR
><TD
ALIGN="CENTER"
><B
>Caution</B
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
ALIGN="LEFT"
><P
>Note that while a table's filenode often matches its OID, this is
<SPAN
CLASS="emphasis"
><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>not</I
></SPAN
> necessarily the case; some operations, like
<TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>TRUNCATE</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>REINDEX</TT
>, <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CLUSTER</TT
> and some forms
of <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>ALTER TABLE</TT
>, can change the filenode while preserving the OID.
Avoid assuming that filenode and table OID are the same.</P
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
><P
>When a table or index exceeds 1 GB, it is divided into gigabyte-sized
<I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>segments</I
>.  The first segment's file name is the same as the
filenode; subsequent segments are named filenode.1, filenode.2, etc.
This arrangement avoids problems on platforms that have file size limitations.
The contents of tables and indexes are discussed further in
<A
HREF="storage-page-layout.html"
>Section 53.3</A
>.</P
><P
>A table that has columns with potentially large entries will have an
associated <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>TOAST</I
> table, which is used for out-of-line storage of
field values that are too large to keep in the table rows proper.
<TT
CLASS="STRUCTNAME"
>pg_class</TT
>.<TT
CLASS="STRUCTFIELD"
>reltoastrelid</TT
> links from a table to
its <ACRONYM
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>TOAST</ACRONYM
> table, if any.
See <A
HREF="storage-toast.html"
>Section 53.2</A
> for more information.</P
><P
>Tablespaces make the scenario more complicated.  Each user-defined tablespace
has a symbolic link inside the <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/pg_tblspc</TT
>
directory, which points to the physical tablespace directory (as specified in
its <TT
CLASS="COMMAND"
>CREATE TABLESPACE</TT
> command).  The symbolic link is named after
the tablespace's OID.  Inside the physical tablespace directory there is
a subdirectory for each database that has elements in the tablespace, named
after the database's OID.  Tables within that directory follow the filenode
naming scheme.  The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>pg_default</TT
> tablespace is not accessed through
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_tblspc</TT
>, but corresponds to
<TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/base</TT
>.  Similarly, the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>pg_global</TT
>
tablespace is not accessed through <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pg_tblspc</TT
>, but corresponds to
<TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/global</TT
>.</P
><P
>Temporary files (for operations such as sorting more data than can fit in
memory) are created within <TT
CLASS="VARNAME"
>PGDATA</TT
><TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>/base/pgsql_tmp</TT
>,
or within a <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pgsql_tmp</TT
> subdirectory of a tablespace directory
if a tablespace other than <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>pg_default</TT
> is specified for them.
The name of a temporary file has the form
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>pgsql_tmp<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>PPP</I
></TT
>.<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>NNN</I
></TT
></TT
>,
where <TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>PPP</I
></TT
> is the PID of the owning backend and
<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
>NNN</I
></TT
> distinguishes different files of that backend.</P
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