Re: Performance Problem

In article <s0b610a3.089@uk.aeat.com>,
"Frank Smith" <frank.smith@aeat.co.uk> writes:

> Hi
> ID:77777

> I am running PostgreSQL 7.2.2 on Red Hat 9 and I am suffering a growing
> performance problem. The problem shows through a slowing of queries and
> an increase in the system CPU usage. Queries that took less than 6
> seconds clime to take more than 5 minutes and as the system is driven by
> Apache through Perl scripts, the web server times out. Clearly I could
> reset the Apache timers, however this would just hide the problem for a
> little longer and of course once the problem starts to happen the system
> tends to cascade because the users try again and the orphaned processes
> continue to use processor time until they complete.

> I use Cron to 'VACUUM ANALIZE' the system every night and this greatly
> improved the performance but has not stopped the delay from growing. The
> strange thing is that apart from the delay everything seems fine.

If VACUUM does not stop the delay from growing, you might be suffering
index bloat.  Either REINDEX by crontab, or upgrade to 7.4, where
VACUUM seems to take care of that.