Re: postgres processes not reflected in pg_stat_activity

I got it once I pointed to the ucb ps per Alvaro's suggestion. Thanks! Here's what I see with a ps auwx :

postgres   343  4.2 16.627789922714952 ?        S   Aug 13 371:21 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres  8677  0.3 16.727967602735936 ?        S   Aug 13 895:14 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 16593  0.2 10.617558721731344 ?        S   Aug 12 734:06 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 22691  0.1  0.115096 9608 ?        S   Aug 06 1145:55 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 22688  0.0  9.816178161609728 ?        S   Aug 06 105:03 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres  6939  0.0  9.816171921608128 ?        S 15:49:49  1:34 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 22690  0.0  9.916256561615744 ?        S   Aug 06 106:16 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres   350  0.0 10.317070961678960 ?        S   Aug 13 262:39 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres  5074  0.0 10.216917041672928 ?        S   Aug 12 710:07 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres  8347  0.0 16.728063602733464 ?        S   Aug 25 357:26 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres  8678  0.0 10.216995281677848 ?        S   Aug 13 695:14 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 22678  0.0  9.816164721609216 ?        S   Aug 06  5:22 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 22686  0.0  0.0 6824 2176 ?        S   Aug 06  3:09 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
postgres 24793  0.0 16.928296322763624 ?        S   Aug 12 2050:48 /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2

Again, 5 extra processes. 6939 is one example. I'm not sure what you are looking for from this command that is
differentfrom ps -ef?  
Update_process_title is turned on.
Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. I may have to kill these processes because they are eating up memory on
thismachine, but I would really prefer to know why/what they are before doing so. 
Mija

-----Original Message-----
From: Emanuel Calvo Franco [mailto:postgres.arg@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 11:01 AM
To: Lee, Mija
Cc: Scott Marlowe; pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [ADMIN] postgres processes not reflected in pg_stat_activity

2009/9/4 Lee, Mija <mija@scharp.org>:
> Hi -
> Thanks for the response.
> I'm on solaris so the ps ax doesn't work for me. I think the equivalent
> is ps -ef which shows:
> postgres  6939 22678   0 15:49:49 ?           1:33
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 22678 16072   0   Aug 06 ?           5:22
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres  5074 22678   0   Aug 12 ?         710:08
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres  8677 22678   0   Aug 13 ?         894:39
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres  8347 22678   0   Aug 25 ?         357:27
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres   343 22678   0   Aug 13 ?         368:30
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres  8678 22678   0   Aug 13 ?         695:15
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 24793 22678   0   Aug 12 ?        2048:13
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 22690 22678   0   Aug 06 ?         106:15
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 22686 22678   0   Aug 06 ?           3:09
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 22691 22678   0   Aug 06 ?        1145:42
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres   350 22678   0   Aug 13 ?         262:39
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 16593 22678   0   Aug 12 ?         731:57
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
> postgres 22688 22678   0   Aug 06 ?         104:59
> /services/8.3.5/bin/postgres -D /services/pgdata2
>
> If I'm wrong about the ps commands, please correct me.
> When I cross reference this against pg_stat_activity, 5 of them don't
> show up, and a top shows the same processes using 0% cpu but almost a
> gig of memory. Are these internal postgres processes that don't make a
> connection?
> Mija
>

What is the value of update_process_title in your postgresql.conf? By
default is on, so you must see the title  off the process.

what about ps auxw?

--
              Emanuel Calvo Franco
             DBA at:  www.siu.edu.ar
        www.emanuelcalvofranco.com.ar