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Subject: Re: Autovacuum / full vacuum
From: Scott Marlowe <smarlowe@g2switchworks.com>
To: Andrew Sullivan <ajs@crankycanuck.ca>
Cc: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
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On Tue, 2006-01-17 at 11:16, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 17, 2006 at 09:59:25AM -0600, Scott Marlowe wrote:
> > I have to admit, looking at the documentation, that we really don't
> > explain this all that well in the administration section, and I can see
> > how easily led astray beginners are.
> 
> I understand what you mean, but I suppose my reaction would be that
> what we really need is a place to keep these things, with a note in
> the docs that the "best practice" settings for these are documented
> at <some url>, and evolve over time as people gain expertise with the
> new features.
> 
> I suspect, for instance, that nobody knows exactly the right settings
> for any generic workload yet under 8.1 (although probably people know
> them well enough for particular workloads).

But the problem is bigger than that.  The administrative docs were
obviously evolved over time, and now they kind of jump around and around
covering the same subject from different angles and at different
depths.  Even I find it hard to find what I need, and I know PostgreSQL
administration well enough to be pretty darned good at it.

For the beginner, it must seem much more confusing.  The more I look at
the administration section of the docs, the more I want to reorganize
the whole thing, and rewrite large sections of it as well.