Re: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL - Mailing list pgsql-performance

Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 08:07:18PM +0200, Arjen van der Meijden wrote:
> > > Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> > > results under production conditions, and not bother to read
> > > even the basic "quickstart"-type stuff that is kicking
> > > around.
> > Then please point out where it sais, in the documentation, that the
> > value for the shared_memory of 64 is too low and that 4000 is a nice
> > value to start with?
>
> I think I did indeed speak too soon, as the criticism is a fair one:
> nowhere in the installation instructions or the "getting started"
> docs does it say that you really ought to do some tuning once you
> have the system installed.  Can I suggest for the time being that
> something along these lines should go in 14.6.3, "Tuning the
> installation":
>
> ---snip---
> By default, PostgreSQL is configured to run on minimal hardware.  As
> a result, some tuning of your installation will be necessary before
> using it for anything other than extremely small databases.  At the
> very least, it will probably be necessary to increase your shared
> buffers setting.  See Chapter 16 for details on what tuning options
> are available to you.
> ---snip---
>
> > I'm sorry to put this in a such a confronting manner, but you simply
> > can't expect people to search for information that they don't know the
> > existence of.
>
> No need to apologise; I think you're right.

Agreed.  Text added to install docs:

   <para>
    By default, <productname>PostgreSQL</> is configured to run on minimal
    hardware.  This allows it to start up with almost any hardware
    configuration. However, the default configuration is not designed for
    optimum performance. To achieve optimum performance, several server
    variables must be adjusted, the two most common being
    <varname>shared_buffers</varname> and <varname> sort_mem</varname>
    mentioned in <![%standalone-include[the documentation]]>
    <![%standalone-ignore[<xref linkend="runtime-config-resource-memory">]]>.
    Other parameters in <![%standalone-include[the documentation]]>
    <![%standalone-ignore[<xref linkend="runtime-config-resource">]]>
    also affect performance.
   </para>

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