Re: drop database command blocking other connections

On 5/3/06, Jim Buttafuoco <jim@contactbda.com> wrote:
> from time to time I have to drop a very large database (1TB+).  The drop database command takes a long time to
complete
> while its deleting the files.  During this time, no one can connect to the database server, ps displays "startup
> waiting".  This is with Postgresql 7.4.  Has this been addressed in 8.1, if not, does anyone have some ideas on how
to
> speed this up.

I don't have a "fix", but I can offer a workaround.

When we need to drop large DBs we drop them a schema at a time. DROP
SCHEMA does *not* block new connections into the server. Once the data
it out of the schema(s), a DROP DATABASE on a nearly empty database
does not block new connections for more than a moment.