Thread: RE: [HACKERS] Can't start postmaster

RE: [HACKERS] Can't start postmaster

From
Vince Vielhaber
Date:
On 23-Apr-99 "D'Arcy" "J.M." Cain wrote:
> When I try to start the postmaster from the current sources, I get the
> following error.
> 
> IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget failed (No space left on device) key=5432015, num=16,
> permission=600
> 
> My command is as follows.
> 
> /usr/local/postgres/bin/postmaster -S -D /usr/local/postgres/data
> 
> The same command works with PostgreSQL 6.5.0 build from sources in
> Feb.  I did a full distclean, reconfigure, build and initdb.  There
> is plenty of space on the system so I assume that the above error is
> bogus but I can't imagine what has changed to make this fail.  Any ideas?

Hopefully this won't bounce 'cuze of your quotes that my mailer for some
reason doesn't like..  but anyway...

I had something like this earlier today.  Assuming your system has something
like ipcs, what does it say?  (if you don't have that command, try apropos
on ipc to find out what the status command is)  I had a bunch of old items
hanging on to pieces of shared memory causing my problem.

Vince.
-- 
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Re: [HACKERS] Can't start postmaster

From
"D'Arcy" "J.M." Cain
Date:
Thus spake Vince Vielhaber
> On 23-Apr-99 "D'Arcy" "J.M." Cain wrote:
> > When I try to start the postmaster from the current sources, I get the
> > following error.
> > 
> > IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget failed (No space left on device) key=5432015, num=16,
> > permission=600
> 
> Hopefully this won't bounce 'cuze of your quotes that my mailer for some
> reason doesn't like..  but anyway...

That's what happens when you have punctuation in your name I suppose.  :-)

> I had something like this earlier today.  Assuming your system has something
> like ipcs, what does it say?  (if you don't have that command, try apropos
> on ipc to find out what the status command is)  I had a bunch of old items
> hanging on to pieces of shared memory causing my problem.

Here's the output.

Message Queues:
T     ID     KEY        MODE       OWNER    GROUP

Shared Memory:
T     ID     KEY        MODE       OWNER    GROUP
m 786432    5432010 --rwa------ postgres postgres
m 720897    5432001 --rw------- postgres postgres
m 327682    5432007 --rw------- postgres postgres
m  65539     296499 --rw-rw-rw-     root    wheel

Semaphores:
T     ID     KEY        MODE       OWNER    GROUP
s  65536 1426359859 --rw-rw-rw-     root    wheel

I assume the postgres ones will go away when I stop the old postmaster.
The thing is that the old one still works so there must be something
that's changed in the current one.

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain <darcy@{druid|vex}.net>   |  Democracy is three wolves
http://www.druid.net/darcy/                |  and a sheep voting on
+1 416 424 2871     (DoD#0082)    (eNTP)   |  what's for dinner.


Re: [HACKERS] Can't start postmaster

From
Tom Lane
Date:
"D'Arcy" "J.M." Cain <darcy@druid.net> writes:
>>>> When I try to start the postmaster from the current sources, I get the
>>>> following error.
>>>> 
>>>> IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget failed (No space left on device) key=5432015, num=16,
>>>> permission=600

You're out of semaphores, not disk space.  Evidently your kernel is only
configured to allow a few dozen semaphores --- you'd be wise to increase
that parameter, especially if you want to be able to run more than one
postmaster at once.  (See the current FAQ, item 2.13.)

> The thing is that the old one still works so there must be something
> that's changed in the current one.

Well, yes, things change... the system is now designed to grab all the
semaphores it wants at postmaster startup, rather than risking not being
able to grab them later.
        regards, tom lane