On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 14:05, Guido Barosio wrote:
> Hi Cory,
>
> Actually it seems that the database wasn't shut down properly, and
> while it was doing the recovery, it refused connections. Expected and
> what needs to happen, indeed.
>
> That's why if you are a client about to connect, you'll recieve the "
> FATAL ...database is starting up " message.
>
> Ideally, you (the dba) should let the server end this task (the
> recovery). AFAIK, the recovery started as a consecuence of dirty data
> somewere, probably a big transaction not comitted when the server went
> off.
>
> Are you aware of a shutdown prior to this messages?
>
> Nothing to do with your current issue, but you will receive comments
> related with your pgsql version if you are not using a pgsql 8 :)
As mentioned, this is normal operation.
Note that the command:
pg_ctl -m immediate stop
will cause a recovery. It's pretty much a functional equivalent of
senting kill -9 to all backends and the postmaster at once. Brutal but
effective.