Re: UPDATES hang every 5 minutes

Ok, partial day results.  Looks like my changes have not solved the problem, just spread it out a little more (as would
beexpected based on your responses).  The delays are now shorter (about half) but occur more frequently (maybe 1x /
minute). The params I used are: 

bgwriter_lru_percent = 5.0
bgwriter_lru_maxpages = 100
bgwriter_all_percent = 5.0
bgwriter_all_maxpages = 100
wal_buffers = 20

checkpoint_segments = 10
shared_buffers = 196608

I'm going to do some reading today/tonight with the docs/links you have provided and give it another shot on Monday.
Rightnow I'm leaning towards lowering my shared_buffers param as you suggested as third possibility.  I will also take
alook at the buffer cache data to get a better feel. 

It seems to me that the real solution is for me to stop using the database as an IPC system to pass somewhat
time-criticaldata between processes.  Given the time constraints I'm working under this unfortunately was the quickest
route.  

Again, I can't say thanks enough for the great info you have provided.  I'll continue to post any changes/results I
make/see.

Marc