Обсуждение: Error while starting postgreSQL service

Sima asked:

<...>
>
> While starting the postgreSQL service, i get the error message as
>
> Could not open process token "error code-5"
>
> Appreciate if any one can help me out on this issue.
>

Without more information its hard to say -- you might provide some information about what operating system and what version of postgreSQL.

I have some vague memories of "error code 5" being sometimes a message that indicates that there are insufficient file handles available. Not sure if this applies in your case, so if you coulkd provide more context a more helpful response might be found from some one on this list.

On a side note this, cross-posting is usually not considered good form; the admin list is probably the most suitable for this one. And the list owner is almost never the right address since that's an alias for isssues about the list itself, such as signing up, etc.

HTH,

Greg Williamson
Senior DBA
GlobeXplorer LLC, a DigitalGlobe company

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Bebarta, Simanchala wrote:
>
> Need immediate attention to my concern.

OK.

> While starting the postgreSQL service, i get the error message as
> Could not open process token "error code-5"

What version of PostgreSQL?
What operating-system?
Have you had any problems before this point?

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd

Don't forget to cc: the list, other people will probably know more than me.

Bebarta, Simanchala wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> My postgreSQL 8.2.4 is installed on Windows server 2003 Enterprise
> Edition.

OK. Thanks.

8.2.5 has been released, and you should consider upgrading soon. The
Windows-related changes seem to be:
# Windows socket and semaphore improvements (Magnus)
# Make pg_ctl -w work properly in Windows service mode (Dave Page)
# Fix memory allocation bug when using MIT Kerberos on Windows (Magnus)
# Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows because of
possible encoding mismatches (Tom)

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/release-8-2-5.html

Could the Kerberos-related bug be affecting you?

> Windows Server configuration:
> RAM 4GB
> HDD 50 GB
> Processor: Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz
>
>
> When the shared_buffers = 2048 MB is set in the Postgresql.conf file,
> while starting the service, I got the error
>
>  Could not open process token "error code-5".

Does the problem go away when you put shared_buffers back to a lower number?

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd

Yes, when I set the value to 1300 MB, everything goes fine. Any value
higher than this value does not allow me to start the service.

sima

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Huxton [mailto:dev@archonet.com]
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 3:40 PM
To: Bebarta, Simanchala
Cc: PG-General Mailing List; pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [ADMIN] [GENERAL] Error while starting postgreSQL service

Don't forget to cc: the list, other people will probably know more than
me.

Bebarta, Simanchala wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> My postgreSQL 8.2.4 is installed on Windows server 2003 Enterprise
> Edition.

OK. Thanks.

8.2.5 has been released, and you should consider upgrading soon. The
Windows-related changes seem to be:
# Windows socket and semaphore improvements (Magnus)
# Make pg_ctl -w work properly in Windows service mode (Dave Page)
# Fix memory allocation bug when using MIT Kerberos on Windows (Magnus)
# Suppress timezone name (%Z) in log timestamps on Windows because of
possible encoding mismatches (Tom)

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/release-8-2-5.html

Could the Kerberos-related bug be affecting you?

> Windows Server configuration:
> RAM 4GB
> HDD 50 GB
> Processor: Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz
>
>
> When the shared_buffers = 2048 MB is set in the Postgresql.conf file,
> while starting the service, I got the error
>
>  Could not open process token "error code-5".

Does the problem go away when you put shared_buffers back to a lower
number?

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd

Bebarta, Simanchala wrote:
 >>
 >> Does the problem go away when you put shared_buffers back to a lower
 >> number?
 >>
> Yes, when I set the value to 1300 MB, everything goes fine. Any value
> higher than this value does not allow me to start the service.

It's quite possible that you can't go any higher (I don't know enough
about Windows' memory handling). It's quite possible you don't want to
anyway.
Don't forget, you want to allow space for the following:
- Windows itself
- Other applications
- Each backend of PostgreSQL will need its own memory when running queries.
- Filesystem caching.

PostgreSQL isn't like some other RDBMS where you dedicate a big block of
memory just to it.

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd

On Nov 19, 2007 4:15 AM, Bebarta, Simanchala
<Simanchala.Bebarta@in.unisys.com> wrote:
> Yes, when I set the value to 1300 MB, everything goes fine. Any value
> higher than this value does not allow me to start the service.

Please don't top post.

Anyway, are you sure that increasing shared_buffers that high is
helping?  There's some evidence that windows pgsql can't use
shared_buffer settings that high efficiently.  Have you tested
shared_buffer settings starting low and working you way up and seen a
steady increase in performance?  Or are you just guessing that larger
shared_buffer = better performance?

I'm guessing that it's a limitation of windows and pgsql that you're
running into.  If you want to run a large memory postgresql database
server with lots of load, I highly recommend using unix as the
underlying OS, as pgsql is far better tested and supported there.

On Mon, 2007-11-19 at 10:33 +0000, Richard Huxton wrote:
> Bebarta, Simanchala wrote:
>  >>
>  >> Does the problem go away when you put shared_buffers back to a lower
>  >> number?
>  >>
> > Yes, when I set the value to 1300 MB, everything goes fine. Any value
> > higher than this value does not allow me to start the service.
>
> It's quite possible that you can't go any higher (I don't know enough
> about Windows' memory handling). It's quite possible you don't want to
> anyway.
> Don't forget, you want to allow space for the following:
> - Windows itself
> - Other applications
> - Each backend of PostgreSQL will need its own memory when running queries.
> - Filesystem caching.
>
> PostgreSQL isn't like some other RDBMS where you dedicate a big block of
> memory just to it.

Yeah, going above 1300Mb shared_buffer is certainly going to be a
problem. You'll run out of address space in the processes (limited to
2Gb, but that's including code and OS overhead).

That said, you're also likely to have a lot of other reasons for having
it lower. We've seen a lot of cases where putting shared_buffers as low
as possible gives for a lot better performance, and I've yet to see a
single case where having shared_buffers very high has helped.

(Before someone comments on it, the previous paragraph valid for win32
only, of course)

//Magnus