On Jan 4, 2008 7:41 PM, Ed L. <pgsql@bluepolka.net> wrote:
> On Friday 04 January 2008 6:21 pm, Scott Marlowe wrote:
> > On Jan 4, 2008 6:38 PM, Ed L. <pgsql@bluepolka.net> wrote:
> > > We need some advice on how to handle some large table
> > > autovacuum issues. One of our 8.1.2
> >
> > First of all, update your 8.1 install to 8.1.10. Failing to
> > keep up with bug fixes is negligent. who knows, you might be
> > getting bitten by a bug that was fixed between 8.1.2 and
> > 8.1.10
>
> Could be. But like you said, who knows. In some environments,
> downtime for upgrading costs money (and more), too, sometimes
> even enough to make it "negligent" to take downtime to keep up
> with bug fixes (and of course, the new bugs) which may or may
> not be a factor at hand. While the time required to restart a
> DB may be neglible, there are often upstream/downstream
> dependencies that greatly expand the actual downtime for the
> customer. How much would downtime need to cost before you
> thought it negligent to upgrade immediately? It's a tradeoff,
> not well-supported by simple pronouncements, one the customer
> and provider are best qualified to make.
And how much would downtime cost you if your database got corrupted by
those bugs and you had to restore from backups? You can use something
like slony and a two server setup to reduce the downtime to mere
seconds. I know about downtime and its costs, I work at an airline
reservation company. Even we have scheduled maintenance windows,
albeit few and far between. I find it hard to believe you've had none
since 8.1.2 came out.