max out your checkpoint_segments. 128 or 256 is good if you have
plenty of spare space for the pg_xlog directory. you will also want
to increase checkpoint_timeout to something large. I like 900 seconds
personally. if you can put pg_xlog on a separate physical RAID you're
best off.
increase the amount of ram your index operations can use (sort_mem or
work_mem depending on PG version) to a very large number and then
reset that to a normal value when you're done.
then just let pg_dump + pg_restore do its work.
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Vivek Khera, Ph.D. Khera Communications, Inc.
Internet: khera@kciLink.com Rockville, MD +1-301-869-4449 x806
AIM: vivekkhera Y!: vivek_khera http://www.khera.org/~vivek/
