Configuring disk cache size on postgress

From: Dror Matalon (dror_at_zapatec.com)
Date: 03/16/04

  • Next message: Jason Coene: "FreeBSD, PostgreSQL, semwait and sbwait!"
    Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 10:44:15 -0800
    To: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org
    
    

    Hi Folks,

    When configuring postgres, one of the variables to configure is
    effective_cache_size:
            Sets the optimizer's assumption about the effective size of the disk
            cache (that is, the portion of the kernel's disk cache that will be
            used for PostgreSQL data files). This is measured in disk pages, which
            are normally 8 kB each.
            (http://www.varlena.com/varlena/GeneralBits/Tidbits/annotated_conf_e.html)

    The conventional wisdom on the postgres list has been that for freebsd
    you calculate this by doing `sysctl -n vfs.hibufspace` / 8192).

    Now I'm running 4.9 with 2 Gig of ram and sysctl -n vfs.hibufspace
    indicates usage of 200MB.

    Questions:
    1. How much RAM is freebsd using for *disk* caching? Is it part of the
    general VM or is it limited to the above 200MB? I read Matt Dillon's
    http://www.daemonnews.org/200001/freebsd_vm.html, but most of the
    discussion there seems to be focused on caching programs and program
    data.

    2. Can I tell, and if so how, how much memory the OS is using for disk
    caching?

    3. What are the bufspace variables for?

    This subject has been touched on before in
    http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/performance/2003-09/0045.html
    which point to a patch to increase the bufspace.

    Regards,

    Dror

    -- 
    Dror Matalon
    Zapatec Inc 
    1700 MLK Way
    Berkeley, CA 94709
    http://www.fastbuzz.com
    http://www.zapatec.com
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  • Next message: Jason Coene: "FreeBSD, PostgreSQL, semwait and sbwait!"

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