Hi,
These are the /etc/sysctl.conf settings that I am planning to use.
Coincidentally, these are the settings recommended by Oracle. If anything
they would be generous, I think.
file-max 65536 (for 2.2 and 2.4 kernels)
kernel.shmall 134217728 (=128MB)
kernel.shmmax 268435456
fs.file-max 65536
By the way, when you tested your changes, was that with a busy system? I
think that a configuration that gives the best performance (at the client
end) on a machine with just a few connections might not be the configuration
that will give you the best throughput when the system is stressed.
I'm certainly no expert on tuning Linux systems, or even Postgres but I'd
suggest that you become knowlegable in the use of the various system
monitoring tools that Linux has and keep a record of their output so you can
compare as you change your configuration. In the end though, I think your
aim is to reduce swapping by tuning your memory usage for busy times.
Also, I heard that (most?what versions?) 32 bit linux kernals are slow at
handling more than 2GB memory so a kernal upgrade might be worth
considering.
regards
Iain
