Re: strange pauses

Adrian Moisey wrote:
>
> If I tail the logs, I see a steady stream of functions that took longer
> then 5 seconds.  But every now and then I see nothing for 3 minutes and
> after that a whole bunch (about 20 - 30) queries all finishing at the
> same second.

Search this list for references to "checkpoints". If you run
vmstat/iostat for a bit you should see bursts of disk activity at those
times.

Counter-intuitively you probably want *more* checkpoints (with less data
to write out each time), but see the list archives for discussion. Also
check the manuals for some background info.

HTH

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd