Re: New to PostgreSQL, performance considerations

Alexander Staubo wrote:

> No, fsync=on. The tps values are similarly unstable with fsync=off,
> though -- I'm seeing bursts of high tps values followed by low-tps
> valleys, a kind of staccato flow indicative of a write caching being
> filled up and flushed.

Databases with checkpointing typically exhibit this cyclical throughput
syndrome.
(put another way : this is to be expected and you are correct that it
indicates buffered
data being flushed to disk periodically).