Re: heavy swapping, not sure why

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 1:46 PM, Alan Hodgson <ahodgson@simkin.ca> wrote:
> On August 29, 2011 01:36:07 PM Lonni J Friedman wrote:
>> I have several Linux-x68_64 based dedicated PostgreSQL servers where
>> I'm experiencing significant swap usage growth over time.
>
> It's the Linux kernel that does it, not PostgreSQL. Set vm.swappiness=0
> (usually in /etc/sysctl.conf) and put that into effect.

I understand that the kernel determines what is swapped out, however
postgres is what is using nearly all the RAM, and then overflowing
into swap.  I guess I should have noted that this isn't a case of a
significant amount of RAM not being used, and swapping occurring
anyway.  Most of the RAM is already consumed when the heavy swapping
is happening.  So, I'd be surprised if setting vm.swappiness=0 will
make a significant difference, however I can certainly try.