> I'm returned from a 2 weeks vacation and I'm now facing a problem that
> is effectively blocking a critical database server.
>
[snip]
> - And last, but not least... is it possible to restore the situation
> without loosing data (backup is 3 weeks old)? I'm able to start the
not having a daily backup for a critical database server is no good idea, no
matter how stable a database is. think of a hardware crash.
some ideas:
1.first you should try to make a filesystem backup of your database. that
means, stop the database, make a tar file of your data directory, and
restart the database. so you'll have a chance to recover in case your rescue
efforts make things worse.
2. use "vacuum verbose" and remember the location where vacuum crashes. this
will make tracking down the error easier.