Re: Read db files directly

So, is the working postmaster running in /var/lib/pgsql/data?

Have you taken Tom's advice and run 'VACUUM pg_database' ?  Or even just
'vacuumdb -av' ?

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006, Mingzuo Shen wrote:

> Thanks Jeff!
>
> No, cannot do that.
> Because the folder has only the "oid" files.
> Don't know that to call them.
> All file names are numbers.
> Except the three following:
> pg_internal.init
> pgsql_tmp (empty folder)
> PG_VERSION
>
> /seagate400/1061329089 is the actual location
> of those 50 GB worth of files.
> I have a symlink like so:
> /var/lib/pgsql/data/base/1061329089
> ->
> /seagate400/1061329089
> Restarted many times.
>
>
>
> --- Jeff Frost <jeff@frostconsultingllc.com> wrote:
>
>> So what are the two locations in question?  Is one
>> /var/lib/pgsql/data and
>> another one /usr/local/pgsql/data by chance?
>>
>> You can start another instance of postmaster in that
>> directory by using:
>>
>> pg_ctl -D <path to data directory> start
>>
>> example:
>>
>> pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data start
>>
>> If you do a ps -ef | grep data, you should probably
>> see something like:
>>
>> postgres 20991     1  4 13:33 pts/13   00:00:00
>> /usr/bin/postmaster -p 5432 -D
>> /var/lib/pgsql/data
>>
>> which would tell you that the current instance of
>> postgres is running in
>> /var/lib/pgsql/data and you need to start the other
>> one up to see what's in
>> the other location.
>>
>> On Fri, 28 Jul 2006, Mingzuo Shen wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Scott.
>>> That is a much clearer way of putting it.
>>> That old PostgreSQL runs just fine,
>>> in one place, but I have 50 GB of files in
>>> another place. PostgreSQL is not reading it.
>>> How can I persuade this PostgreSQL,
>>> or any PostgeSQL, to read that 50 GB of files.
>>> Or any independent tool to read the files.
>>>
>>> Tom Lane mentioned "vacuum".
>>> If only I knew the database name,
>>> I could try "psql dbname".
>>> But I don't know the database name either.
>>> I did run "vacuum" in my new testdb.
>>>
>>> Yeah. I guess the previous DBA put those files
>>> on a different file system,
>>> and then forgot about them, probably with
>>> good reason. But as I said, the previous DBA
>>> is no longer available.
>>>
>>> Imagine I send just those files to you,
>>> and you try to get some text out of them.
>>> I do not have the SQL used to create
>>> the tables, no table structures.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --- Scott Marlowe <smarlowe@g2switchworks.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It sounds like the current postgresql is running
>> in
>>>> one directory, and
>>>> you're looking in another directory.  If you can
>> see
>>>> how postgresql was
>>>> started, does it have a -D switch that shows the
>>>> directory?  My guess is
>>>> you could chmod 000 the master directory you're
>>>> looking at right now and
>>>> postgresql could still startup, because it's not
>>>> where you think it is.
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>> --
>> Jeff Frost, Owner     <jeff@frostconsultingllc.com>
>> Frost Consulting, LLC
>> http://www.frostconsultingllc.com/
>> Phone: 650-780-7908    FAX: 650-649-1954
>>
>
>
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--
Jeff Frost, Owner     <jeff@frostconsultingllc.com>
Frost Consulting, LLC     http://www.frostconsultingllc.com/
Phone: 650-780-7908    FAX: 650-649-1954