Received: from magus.postgresql.org (magus.postgresql.org [87.238.57.229]) by mail.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9539BF5D5A3 for ; Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:30:42 -0400 (AST) Received: from sss.pgh.pa.us ([66.207.139.130]) by magus.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1RagUK-0004iI-Bh for pgsql-admin@postgresql.org; Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:30:42 +0000 Received: from sss2.sss.pgh.pa.us (tgl@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sss.pgh.pa.us (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id pBE4UQur027471; Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:30:26 -0500 (EST) To: CS DBA cc: pgsql-admin@postgresql.org Subject: Re: FATAL: shmat(id=4096103) failed: Cannot allocate memory In-reply-to: <4EE80396.6070903@consistentstate.com> References: <4EE80396.6070903@consistentstate.com> Comments: In-reply-to CS DBA message dated "Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:01:58 -0700" Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:30:26 -0500 Message-ID: <27470.1323837026@sss.pgh.pa.us> From: Tom Lane X-Pg-Spam-Score: -4.2 (----) X-Archive-Number: 201112/72 X-Sequence-Number: 38830 CS DBA writes: > I set postgres to use 2GB for shared_buffers and I get this when I try > to start: > FATAL: shmat(id=4096103) failed: Cannot allocate memory > The only real difference from Fedora 14 is that on Fedora 16 I'm using > the PAE kernel That's not really surprising in a 32-bit environment --- you've only got 4GB of address space, in fact I think only 3GB in Linux, and that space is kind of fragmented. Install 64-bit or back down shared_buffers to 1GB or so. regards, tom lane