Re: PostgreSQL and memory usage

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us]
> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 7:30 PM
> To: Dann Corbit
> Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org; pgsql-general@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL and memory usage
>
>
> "Dann Corbit" <DCorbit@connx.com> writes:
> > I have a machine with 4 CPU's and 2 gigabytes of physical
> ram. I would
> > like to get PostgreSQL to use as much memory as possible.  I can't
> > seem to get PostgreSQL to use more than 100 megabytes or so.
>
> You should not assume that more is necessarily better.
>
> In many practical situations, it's better to leave the
> majority of RAM free for kernel disk caching.

In any case, I would like to know what knobs and dials are available to
turn and what each of them means.
In at least one instance, the whole database should fit into memory.  I
would think that would be faster than any sort of kernel disk caching.