create index concurrently - duplicate index to reduce time without an index - Mailing list pgsql-general

Hi,

We want to reindex the database behind a production service without interrupting the service.

I had an idea for creating the index with a new name then dropping the existing index and renaming the new one - and it
seemsto work and would reduce the time without an index to be minimal.  I tried: 
psql -d ICAT -c 'create unique index concurrently tmp_idx_objt_access1
on R_OBJT_ACCESS (object_id,user_id);'
# would check if that worked before proceeding #
psql -d ICAT -c 'drop index idx_objt_access1;'
psql -d ICAT -c 'alter index tmp_idx_objt_access1 rename to idx_objt_access1;'

But then a colleague pointed out that maybe the name of the index is not meaningful and this might not be any use.

Can any experts confirm the validity of this approach or shoot it down?

Thanks,

Gareth