Re: postgresql.conf.*

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> Every time this idea is brought up, people seem to think that the idea
> is to produce some ideal configuration out-of-the-box, which of course
> is exceptionally difficult. But *anything* would be far superior to what
> we have now. Clearly there's no replacement for actually going in and
> tuning things by hand, and anyone with any kind of database knowledge
> will know that.

On a sort of related note, I recall lobbying for dropping the
random_page_cost down from the current default of 4, but getting
shot down because random_page_cost was part of a bigger picture and
adjusting that alone was the Wrong Way To Do It. Nothing ever came of
it however, so I invariably end up adjusting random_page_cost on every
install I do.

The bigger problem is obviously that we are targeting people who are
running very old / very underpowered hardware. While it's nice to say
that PG will run on almost anything "out of the box", I think it would be
worth re-evaluating a more modern standard target machine every major
release and/or annually. Perhaps something as simple as an average Dell
desktop PC from two years ago. Then we could include another conf file
for lesser machines (e.g. with lower memory settings). Plus another conf
for top of the line machines, plus whatever other sample ones people want
to write. Of course, the more expensive the box, the more likely is it
that PG will be administered by someone who knows what they are doing,
and will tweak things themselves anyway, and thus will not need any sample
configuration files. Especially if a good tuning script becomes available.

- --
Greg Sabino Mullane greg@turnstep.com
PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200601061114
http://biglumber.com/x/web?pk=2529DF6AB8F79407E94445B4BC9B906714964AC8
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