Vacuum performance question

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My database is approximately 8gb in size.  My application is 24/7.  I'm
constantly cycling through data.  I analyze every 15 minutes but I'm noticing
that during a vacuum the database becomes extremely sluggish.

In some cases the operation of my software goes from 1-3 second runtime to
300+ seconds during a vacuum.

Should I expect this with a vacuum?  I've done reading online where people say
they see only a 10% decrease in speed.  Is this supposed to be the norm?

I've allocated 196MB of RAM to vacuums.

The system is a dual P4-2.4ghz w/ 1.5 gig of RAM w/ 36 gig of RAID mirrored
disk.

I'm runing 7.3.2 and I am upgrading to 7.3.3 next week.

Please advise.

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Jeremy M. Guthrie
Systems Engineer
Berbee
5520 Research Park Dr.
Madison, WI  53711
Phone:  608-298-1061

Berbee...Decade 1.  1993-2003
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