"Chris Spotts" <rfusca@gmail.com> writes:
> LOG: 00000: autovacuum launcher process (PID 10264) was terminated by
> signal 9: Killed
Looks like the OOM killer is loose on your system. Disable memory
overcommit in the kernel and things will get better.
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/kernel-resources.html#AEN24152
regards, tom lane