Subject: Re: vacuum and routine maintenance docs
From: Scott Marlowe <smarlowe@g2switchworks.com>
To: "Jim C. Nasby" <jnasby@pervasive.com>
Cc: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
In-Reply-To: <20060117224941.GI17896@pervasive.com>
References: <1137518049.25500.27.camel@state.g2switchworks.com>
	<20060117224941.GI17896@pervasive.com>
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Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:59:29 -0600

Thanks.  Yeah, I'm thinking more of a very brief mention of what the FSM
is, with a link to the other part of the docs that discuss it.  And then
having a link (possibly in both places) or two to more in depth articles
on fsm and fsm tuning.

On Tue, 2006-01-17 at 16:49, Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> Before you 'put pen to paper', I have two articles that you should look
> at. One is on FSM, the other is more about MVCC from the standpoint of
> why we use it and why it means needing to vacuum. I don't have the URL's
> handy here, but I can post them tomorrow.
> 
> On Tue, Jan 17, 2006 at 11:14:09AM -0600, Scott Marlowe wrote:
> > After the most recent post on the general mailing list by someone who
> > was a bit confused by postgresql's vacuuming and use of the free space
> > map, I've been reviewing the page on routine maintenance.
> > 
> > It's pretty obvious that this page was originally written for an older
> > version of PostgreSQL and has had bits and pieces welded onto it over
> > time to cover newer features, like the autovacuum daemon.
> > 
> > I'd like to rewrite most of the page, or at least the parts referring to
> > vacuuming and analyzing.  They seem a bit scattered about on the page,
> > and there's no mention at all of the free space map, something which is
> > integral to vacuuming the database.
> > 
> > So, before I go of slogging through the snow, a couple of questions.
> > 
> > 1:  Is there already a newer version in CVS?  Should I check out the
> > docs/src directory from there to start?   Or can I just go on what's in
> > the 8.1 release?
> > 
> > 2:  Any input on anyone as to what they feel they'd like to see in the
> > docs for this section?  
> > 
> > The section on vacuuming and analysis seem kind of light on theory.  I'm
> > thinking we should mention something about the default statistics or at
> > least a reference to a page that explains it.
> > 
> > This also leads me to believe that what we cover on the
> > runtime-config-resource page, because the coverage of the fsm there is
> > kind of light too.
> > 
> > So, any advice?
> > 
> > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> > TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to
> >        choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not
> >        match
> >