Question

postgresql.conf question - 500 points

Asked by: atvrocks

Hello,
I have a Dell 2850 4 GB RAM - running CentOS
I am a novice in any flavor of Linux, but yesterday when I installed the monitoring system - I noticed that I'm using 3.6GB of RAM .... someone in my organization suggested that postgresql might be the cause of that - nothing else runs on this server anyway.
I presume the lack of available memory makes the scheduled backup to run extremely slow and not finish in timely manner.
I went to check the config in /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf and I got the following.
The fact that I have # - comments on all the lines - doesn;t this mean that this was never configured ? What should I do to reduce the memory usage?

Thank you

# This file consists of lines of the form:
#
#   name = value
#
# (The '=' is optional.) White space may be used. Comments are introduced
# with '#' anywhere on a line. The complete list of option names and
# allowed values can be found in the PostgreSQL documentation. The
# commented-out settings shown in this file represent the default values.
#
# Any option can also be given as a command line switch to the
# postmaster, e.g. 'postmaster -c log_connections=on'. Some options
# can be changed at run-time with the 'SET' SQL command.
#
# This file is read on postmaster startup and when the postmaster
# receives a SIGHUP. If you edit the file on a running system, you have
# to SIGHUP the postmaster for the changes to take effect, or use
# "pg_ctl reload".
 
 
#========================================================================
 
 
#
#       Connection Parameters
#
#tcpip_socket = false
#ssl = false
 
#max_connections = 32
#superuser_reserved_connections = 2
 
#port = 5432
#hostname_lookup = false
#show_source_port = false
 
#unix_socket_directory = ''
#unix_socket_group = ''
#unix_socket_permissions = 0777 # octal
 
#virtual_host = ''
 
#krb_server_keyfile = ''
 
 
#
#       Shared Memory Size
#
#shared_buffers = 64            # min max_connections*2 or 16, 8KB each
#max_fsm_relations = 1000       # min 10, fsm is free space map, ~40 bytes
#max_fsm_pages = 10000          # min 1000, fsm is free space map, ~6 bytes
#max_locks_per_transaction = 64 # min 10
#wal_buffers = 8                # min 4, typically 8KB each
 
#
#       Non-shared Memory Sizes
#
#sort_mem = 1024                # min 64, size in KB
#vacuum_mem = 8192              # min 1024, size in KB
 
 
#
#       Write-ahead log (WAL)
#
#checkpoint_segments = 3        # in logfile segments, min 1, 16MB each
#checkpoint_timeout = 300       # range 30-3600, in seconds
#
#commit_delay = 0               # range 0-100000, in microseconds
#commit_siblings = 5            # range 1-1000
#
#fsync = true
#wal_sync_method = fsync        # the default varies across platforms:
#                               # fsync, fdatasync, open_sync, or open_datasync
#wal_debug = 0                  # range 0-16
 
 
#
#       Optimizer Parameters
#
#enable_seqscan = true
#enable_indexscan = true
#enable_tidscan = true
#enable_sort = true
#enable_nestloop = true
#enable_mergejoin = true
#enable_hashjoin = true
 
#effective_cache_size = 1000    # typically 8KB each
#random_page_cost = 4           # units are one sequential page fetch cost
#cpu_tuple_cost = 0.01          # (same)
#cpu_index_tuple_cost = 0.001   # (same)
#cpu_operator_cost = 0.0025     # (same)
 
#from_collapse_limit = 8
#join_collapse_limit = 8        # 1 disables collapsing of explicit JOINs
 
#default_statistics_target = 10 # range 1-1000
 
#
#       GEQO Optimizer Parameters
#
#geqo = true
#geqo_selection_bias = 2.0      # range 1.5-2.0
#geqo_threshold = 11
#geqo_pool_size = 0             # default based on tables in statement,
                                # range 128-1024
#geqo_effort = 1
#geqo_generations = 0
#geqo_random_seed = -1          # auto-compute seed
 
 
#
#       Message display
#
#server_min_messages = notice   # Values, in order of decreasing detail:
                                #   debug5, debug4, debug3, debug2, debug1,
                                #   info, notice, warning, error, log, fatal,
                                #   panic
#client_min_messages = notice   # Values, in order of decreasing detail:
                                #   debug5, debug4, debug3, debug2, debug1,
                                #   log, info, notice, warning, error
#silent_mode = false
 
#log_connections = false
#log_pid = false
#log_statement = false
#log_duration = false
#log_timestamp = false
 
#log_min_error_statement = panic # Values in order of increasing severity:
                                 #   debug5, debug4, debug3, debug2, debug1,
                                 #   info, notice, warning, error, panic(off)
 
#debug_print_parse = false
#debug_print_rewritten = false
#debug_print_plan = false
#debug_pretty_print = false
 
#explain_pretty_print = true
 
# requires USE_ASSERT_CHECKING
#debug_assertions = true
 
 
#
#       Syslog
#
#syslog = 0                     # range 0-2
#syslog_facility = 'LOCAL0'
#syslog_ident = 'postgres'
syslog=2
 
#
#       Statistics
#
#show_parser_stats = false
#show_planner_stats = false
#show_executor_stats = false
#show_statement_stats = false
 
# requires BTREE_BUILD_STATS
#show_btree_build_stats = false
 
 
#
#       Access statistics collection
#
#stats_start_collector = true
#stats_reset_on_server_start = true
#stats_command_string = false
#stats_row_level = false
#stats_block_level = false
 
 
#
#       Lock Tracing
#
#trace_notify = false
 
# requires LOCK_DEBUG
#trace_locks = false
#trace_userlocks = false
#trace_lwlocks = false
#debug_deadlocks = false
#trace_lock_oidmin = 16384
#trace_lock_table = 0
 
 
#
#       Misc
#
#autocommit = true
#dynamic_library_path = '$libdir'
#search_path = '$user,public'
#datestyle = 'iso, us'
#timezone = unknown             # actually, defaults to TZ environment setting
#australian_timezones = false
#client_encoding = sql_ascii    # actually, defaults to database encoding
#authentication_timeout = 60    # 1-600, in seconds
#deadlock_timeout = 1000        # in milliseconds
#default_transaction_isolation = 'read committed'
#max_expr_depth = 10000         # min 10
#max_files_per_process = 1000   # min 25
#password_encryption = true
#sql_inheritance = true
#transform_null_equals = false
#statement_timeout = 0          # 0 is disabled, in milliseconds
#db_user_namespace = false
#backslash_quote = safe_encoding        # on, off, or safe_encoding
 
 
 
#
#       Locale settings
#
# (initialized by initdb -- may be changed)
LC_MESSAGES = 'en_US.UTF-8'
LC_MONETARY = 'en_US.UTF-8'
LC_NUMERIC = 'en_US.UTF-8'
LC_TIME = 'en_US.UTF-8'
shared_buffers = 512
tcpip_socket = true
port = 5432
syslog = 2

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Asked On: 2009-06-19 at 09:44:19ID24506314
Tags: postgresql centos
Topics: PostgreSQL Database
,; CentOS
Participating Experts: 1
Points: 500
Comments: 5

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Answers

by: cminearPosted on 2009-06-19 at 11:53:10ID: 24668976

Assuming you installed the CentOS-supplied RPMs for PostgreSQL, you are thus running PostgreSQL 8.1.11. Off-hand, I'd be a little surprised that PostgreSQL would take up 3.6GB of RAM with a default postgresql.conf configuration. Still, let's confirm what could be taking up that space.

First, I'd run 'top' on the CentOS system to double-check that it's report for memory usage seems to correspond to what the monitoring system reports. (You don't say what the monitoring system is.)

Next run, run both of these commands:
ps auxwww | sort -n -k 5
ps auxwww | sort -n -k 6

The one with '5' will sort the output from 'ps' based on the amount reported for VSZ; the one with '6' will do the same but use the 'RSS' column. 'VSZ' is the virtual size of the process; 'RSS' is the resident size of the process. Both values are in KiB (effectively KB). Either of these commands should tell you what processes are using the memory. (They both should have roughly the same ordering of processes.) Unless you have qualms about sharing the information, send along the last 10 or so lines from one of those above commands.

See if each process seems to be reasonably sized (10's of MBs or less). If one or more processes are ~50MB or more, these _may_ be your problem processes, but they could be normal. Also, count how many of the 10MB+ processes there are. Maybe there are a few too many postmaster processes running (or something else?)

Of course, the other side of this is maybe this is perfectly normal. If the 3.6GB usage is not increasing and you are not getting a lot of swapping going on, this could be just fine. Reacting drastically to just one data point is not usually the best way to operate. If this configuration seems to be stable, you could just add a 2GB memory module for $100 or so to give you a little extra head room.

by: atvrocksPosted on 2009-06-19 at 12:54:02ID: 24669445

Thank you for the quick answer ....
I did run "top" and the other two commands and the results are attached. The monitoring system that I use is IPMonitor from Solarwinds .... I had it in place for a while but I jsut configures the SNMP in teh Linux Server. The memory is not fixed at 3.6GB ... like right now I have 3974.53MB used and 17.33 MB free (uhhh) ... reported but the Dell MIB.
Adding more memory will not be a problem - but I think that a Linux server will consume less than 4GB for what it does. I have an 8GB server that is running full blown SQL and it does it well - allocated 4Gb for that.
Appreciate your help and here are the results.

Thank you

13:38:55  up 21:02,  1 user,  load average: 1.29, 1.30, 1.27
86 processes: 84 sleeping, 2 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states:  cpu    user    nice  system    irq  softirq  iowait    idle
           total    9.9%    2.4%    4.1%   0.0%     0.3%   42.6%   40.3%
           cpu00   17.2%    0.0%    2.4%   0.0%     0.6%    3.6%   76.2%
           cpu01   11.4%    9.8%    4.6%   0.0%     0.0%   10.2%   64.0%
           cpu02    7.9%    0.0%    3.5%   0.0%     0.0%   77.8%   10.5%
           cpu03    3.4%    0.2%    6.0%   0.0%     1.0%   78.8%   10.6%
Mem:  4087660k av, 4063548k used,   24112k free,       0k shrd,   76260k buff
                   2009428k actv, 1443860k in_d,   79964k in_c
Swap: 2040244k av,       0k used, 2040244k free                 3699464k cached
 
  PID USER     PRI  NI  SIZE  RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM   TIME CPU COMMAND
24049 listener  35  10 75384  73M  1444 R N   2.8  1.8   0:00   1 convert
24037 listener  34  10 10472  10M  3452 S N   1.3  0.2   0:00   0 img-eng-idx.pl
 3916 root      15   0  9656 9656  1540 S     0.0  0.2   0:04   3 cupsd
15457 apache    15   0  9388 9388  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   1 httpd
11021 apache    17   0  9384 9384  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   2 httpd
20345 apache    15   0  9384 9384  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   2 httpd
20342 apache    15   0  9380 9380  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   0 httpd
20344 apache    15   0  9380 9380  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   3 httpd
20350 apache    15   0  9380 9380  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   2 httpd
20348 apache    15   0  9376 9376  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   0 httpd
17309 apache    15   0  9372 9372  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   0 httpd
20349 apache    15   0  9372 9372  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   1 httpd
20351 apache    15   0  9368 9368  6696 S     0.0  0.2   0:00   3 httpd
 4087 root      15   0  9208 9208  6596 S     0.0  0.2   0:01   0 httpd
15766 root      16   0  9156 9156  8044 D     0.6  0.2   1:36   2 clBackup
15758 root      15   0  7004 7004  5928 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   1 clBackup
15760 root      15   0  7004 7004  5928 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   0 clBackup
15761 root      15   0  7004 7004  5928 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   0 clBackup
 5730 root      15   0  6824 6824  5456 S     0.0  0.1   0:01   0 EvMgrC
 5731 root      15   0  6824 6824  5456 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   3 EvMgrC
 5733 root      15   0  6824 6824  5456 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   1 EvMgrC
15771 root      15   0  5664 5664  5072 S     0.4  0.1   0:38   2 nwp
24039 postgres  19   0  5120 5120  4092 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   1 postmaster
 5721 root      15   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   1 cvd
 5722 root      15   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   0 cvd
 5724 root      15   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   0 cvd
 5725 root      15   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:01   2 cvd
 5727 root      15   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   0 cvd
 5729 root      16   0  4844 4840  3736 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   2 cvd
24046 postgres  15   0  4592 4592  3576 S     0.0  0.1   0:00   1 postmaster
27375 root      15   0  4000 4000  2388 S     0.0  0.0   0:08   2 snmpd
15767 root      15   0  3760 3760  3212 S     0.0  0.0   0:15   3 seq
15768 root      15   0  3716 3716  3140 S     0.0  0.0   0:00   0 nwp
15769 root      15   0  3716 3716  3140 S     0.0  0.0   0:00   0 nwp
15770 root      15   0  3716 3716  3140 S     0.0  0.0   0:00   3 nwp
 4122 root      15   0  3196 3192  2404 S     0.0  0.0   0:00   0 winbindd
 3977 ntp       15   0  2572 2572  2196 S     0.0  0.0   0:01   3 ntpd
 4066 root      15   0  2564 2564  1896 S     0.0  0.0   0:01   2 sendmail
 
 
 
 [root@imaging log]# ps auxwww | sort -n -k 5
 root        10  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/3]
 root        11  0.1  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   1:24 [kswapd]
 root        12  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:30 [kscand]
 root        13  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [bdflush]
 root        14  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:18 [kupdated]
 root        15  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [mdrecoveryd]
 root         2  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/0]
 root      2031  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [usb-storage-0]
 root      2032  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
 root        22  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
 root        25  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:38 [kjournald]
 root         3  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/1]
 root         4  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/2]
 root       442  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [kjournald]
 root         5  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/3]
 root         6  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:04 [keventd]
 root         7  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
 root         8  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
 root        86  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [khubd]
 root         9  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/2]
 USER       PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ  RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
 root      5751  0.0  0.0  1516  428 tty5     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty5
 root         1  0.0  0.0  1520  496 ?        S    Jun18   0:06 init
 root      5747  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty1     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty1
 root      5748  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty2     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
 root      5749  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty3     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty3
 root      3803  0.0  0.0  1524  464 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 klogd -x
 root      3814  0.0  0.0  1524  456 ?        S    Jun18   0:03 irqbalance
 root      5750  0.0  0.0  1524  432 tty4     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty4
 root      5752  0.0  0.0  1524  432 tty6     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty6
 root      3825  0.0  0.0  1576  412 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 mdadm --monitor --scan -f
 root      3799  0.0  0.0  1596  584 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 syslogd -m 0
 root     24358  0.0  0.0  1788  492 ?        S    13:39   0:00 sleep 10s
 root      3996  0.0  0.0  1796  512 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /usr/sbin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
 root      3958  0.0  0.0  2152  900 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 xinetd -stayalive -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid
 ntp       3977  0.0  0.0  2576 2572 ?        SL   Jun18   0:01 ntpd -U ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g
 root     24367  0.0  0.0  2748  780 pts/0    R    13:39   0:00 ps auxwww
 root      3942  0.0  0.0  3660 1556 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
 root      5741  0.0  0.0  5316 1092 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /bin/bash /usr/bin/img-listloop
 root     31175  0.0  0.0  5332 1412 pts/0    S    10:22   0:00 -bash
 root      4097  0.0  0.0  5540 1016 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 crond
 smmsp     4075  0.0  0.0  5992 2276 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 sendmail: Queue runner@01:00:00 for /var/spool/clientmqueue
 root      4066  0.0  0.0  6108 2564 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 sendmail: accepting connections
 root     31163  0.0  0.0  7032 2192 ?        S    10:21   0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
 root      4112  0.0  0.0  8756 2112 ?        S    Jun18   0:02 nmbd -D
 postgres  4042  0.0  0.0  9400 1896 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 postgres: stats collector process        
 root      4123  0.0  0.0  9552 1996 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 winbindd
 root      4122  0.0  0.0 10064 3192 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 winbindd
 postgres  4041  0.0  0.0 10256 2136 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 postgres: stats buffer process           
 root     15767  0.5  0.0 10364 3760 ?        S    12:55   0:15 /opt/galaxy/Base/seq 12 15
 root     15768  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
 root     15769  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
 root     15770  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
 root     15771  1.4  0.1 10884 5664 ?        S    12:55   0:39 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
 root     27375  0.0  0.0 10924 4000 ?        S    09:19   0:09 /usr/sbin/snmpd -s -l /dev/null -P /var/run/snmpd -a
 root      4107  0.0  0.0 10940 2544 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 smbd -D
 root      4111  0.0  0.0 10972 2508 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 smbd -D
 postgres  4039  0.0  0.0 14320 2100 ?        S    Jun18   0:03 /usr/bin/postmaster -p 5432 -D /var/lib/pgsql/data
 root      5721  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      5722  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      5724  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      5725  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      5727  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      5729  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
 root      3916  0.0  0.2 16216 9656 ?        S    Jun18   0:04 cupsd
 root     15758  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
 root     15760  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
 root     15761  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
 root      5730  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
 root      5731  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
 root      5733  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
 root     15766  3.6  0.2 18636 9156 ?        D    12:55   1:37 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -child 15758 -j 364 -fdRead 12 -fdWrite 15 -a 2:129
 root      4087  0.0  0.2 21084 9208 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   11021  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    12:19   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   15457  0.0  0.2 21216 9388 ?        S    12:54   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   17309  0.0  0.2 21216 9372 ?        S    13:04   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20342  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20344  0.0  0.2 21216 9380 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20345  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20348  0.0  0.2 21216 9376 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20349  0.0  0.2 21216 9372 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20350  0.0  0.2 21216 9380 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 apache   20351  0.0  0.2 21216 9368 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
 root     24368  0.0  0.0 38508  656 pts/0    S    13:39   0:00 sort -n -k 5
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[root@imaging log]# ps auxwww | sort -n -k 6
root        10  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/3]
root        11  0.1  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   1:24 [kswapd]
root        12  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:30 [kscand]
root        13  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [bdflush]
root        14  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:18 [kupdated]
root        15  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [mdrecoveryd]
root         2  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/0]
root      2031  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [usb-storage-0]
root      2032  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [scsi_eh_2]
root        22  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [scsi_eh_0]
root        25  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:38 [kjournald]
root         3  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/1]
root         4  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/2]
root       442  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [kjournald]
root         5  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [migration/3]
root         6  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:04 [keventd]
root         7  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root         8  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
root        86  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SW   Jun18   0:00 [khubd]
root         9  0.0  0.0     0    0 ?        SWN  Jun18   0:00 [ksoftirqd/2]
USER       PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ  RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root      3825  0.0  0.0  1576  412 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 mdadm --monitor --scan -f
root      5751  0.0  0.0  1516  428 tty5     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty5
root      5747  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty1     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty1
root      5748  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty2     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
root      5749  0.0  0.0  1520  432 tty3     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty3
root      5750  0.0  0.0  1524  432 tty4     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty4
root      5752  0.0  0.0  1524  432 tty6     S    Jun18   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty6
root      3814  0.0  0.0  1524  456 ?        S    Jun18   0:03 irqbalance
root      3803  0.0  0.0  1524  464 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 klogd -x
root         1  0.0  0.0  1520  496 ?        S    Jun18   0:06 init
root     24612  0.0  0.0  1800  496 ?        S    13:40   0:00 sleep 10s
root      3996  0.0  0.0  1796  512 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /usr/sbin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
root      3799  0.0  0.0  1596  584 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 syslogd -m 0
root     24614  0.0  0.0 38508  660 pts/0    S    13:40   0:00 sort -n -k 6
root     24613  0.0  0.0  2864  820 pts/0    R    13:40   0:00 ps auxwww
root      3958  0.0  0.0  2152  900 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 xinetd -stayalive -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid
root      4097  0.0  0.0  5540 1016 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 crond
root      5741  0.0  0.0  5316 1092 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /bin/bash /usr/bin/img-listloop
root     31175  0.0  0.0  5332 1412 pts/0    S    10:22   0:00 -bash
root      3942  0.0  0.0  3660 1556 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
postgres  4042  0.0  0.0  9400 1896 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 postgres: stats collector process        
root      4123  0.0  0.0  9552 1996 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 winbindd
postgres  4039  0.0  0.0 14320 2100 ?        S    Jun18   0:03 /usr/bin/postmaster -p 5432 -D /var/lib/pgsql/data
root      4112  0.0  0.0  8756 2112 ?        S    Jun18   0:02 nmbd -D
postgres  4041  0.0  0.0 10256 2136 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 postgres: stats buffer process           
root     31163  0.0  0.0  7032 2192 ?        S    10:21   0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
smmsp     4075  0.0  0.0  5992 2276 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 sendmail: Queue runner@01:00:00 for /var/spool/clientmqueue
root      4111  0.0  0.0 10972 2508 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 smbd -D
root      4107  0.0  0.0 10940 2544 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 smbd -D
root      4066  0.0  0.0  6108 2564 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 sendmail: accepting connections
ntp       3977  0.0  0.0  2576 2572 ?        SL   Jun18   0:01 ntpd -U ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g
postgres 24601  0.0  0.0 14452 2740 ?        D    13:40   0:00 postgres: checkpoint subprocess          
root      4122  0.0  0.0 10064 3192 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 winbindd
root     15768  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
root     15769  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
root     15770  0.0  0.0 10884 3716 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
root     15767  0.5  0.0 10364 3760 ?        S    12:55   0:15 /opt/galaxy/Base/seq 12 15
postgres 24606  0.5  0.0 15008 3912 ?        S    13:40   0:00 postgres: listener images [local] idle   
postgres 24611  1.0  0.0 15008 3912 ?        S    13:40   0:00 postgres: listener images [local] idle   
root     27375  0.0  0.0 10924 4000 ?        S    09:19   0:09 /usr/sbin/snmpd -s -l /dev/null -P /var/run/snmpd -a
postgres 24605  0.5  0.1 15008 4204 ?        S    13:40   0:00 postgres: listener images [local] idle in transaction
postgres 24437  0.0  0.1 15008 4292 ?        S    13:40   0:00 postgres: postgres images 192.168.3.163 idle
root      5721  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root      5722  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root      5724  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root      5725  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root      5727  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root      5729  0.0  0.1 14892 4840 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/cvd
root     15771  1.4  0.1 10884 5664 ?        S    12:55   0:39 /opt/galaxy/Base/nwp 13 16
listener 24608 13.0  0.1 11960 5684 ?        SN   13:40   0:00 /usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/img-queue-rules.pl
postgres 24610  4.0  0.1 15420 5756 ?        D    13:40   0:00 postgres: listener images [local] INSERT 
root      5730  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
root      5731  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
root      5733  0.0  0.1 18064 6824 ?        S    Jun18   0:00 /opt/galaxy/Base/EvMgrC
root     15758  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
root     15760  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
root     15761  0.0  0.1 17032 7004 ?        S    12:55   0:00 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -j 364 -a 2:129 -t 4 -i 3 -numstreams 1 -parent 1 -ab 1 -r 1245413835 -c 3240845 -maxcolnum 3 -numcol 3
root     15766  3.6  0.2 18636 9156 ?        D    12:55   1:39 /opt/galaxy/iDataAgent/clBackup -child 15758 -j 364 -fdRead 12 -fdWrite 15 -a 2:129
root      4087  0.0  0.2 21084 9208 ?        S    Jun18   0:01 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20351  0.0  0.2 21216 9368 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   17309  0.0  0.2 21216 9372 ?        S    13:04   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20349  0.0  0.2 21216 9372 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20348  0.0  0.2 21216 9376 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20344  0.0  0.2 21216 9380 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20350  0.0  0.2 21216 9380 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   11021  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    12:19   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20342  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
apache   20345  0.0  0.2 21216 9384 ?        S    13:24   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
listener 24603  8.0  0.2 18308 9384 ?        DN   13:40   0:00 /usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/img-eng-idx.pl
apache   15457  0.0  0.2 21216 9388 ?        S    12:54   0:00 /usr/sbin/httpd
root      3916  0.0  0.2 16216 9656 ?        S    Jun18   0:04 cupsd

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Select all Open in new window

by: cminearPosted on 2009-06-19 at 14:35:02ID: 24670271

It is pretty clear from what you sent that there is no single process that is "the problem". For that matter, the sum of the big processes is still well within reason. You can see this yourself by looking at the "%MEM" column in both outputs from 'top' and 'ps'. And after looking at the 'top' output for some time, I finally noticed the value for 'in_d'. This would appear to be what your problem is.

Personally, I'm not familiar with 'in_d'. While possibly not the best answer, check out the solution to this posted problem: http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Linux/Q_21266793.html
It is especially telling that no swap space has been used. While this may be inaccurate, I get the feeling that Linux will keep data cached in the kernel RAM even after it's been freed by processes.

So other than giving you a false message with your monitoring, I would ignore it (and possibly monitor swap more closely).

by: cminearPosted on 2009-07-13 at 07:32:52ID: 24840070

atvrocks original question was how to have PostgreSQL configured so that it would not use as much memory. I believe I was able to prove that the PostgreSQL postmaster processes were not the memory hogs he initially thought them to be, but that the Linux kernel was doing something that misled the SNMP output. If some other expert could have described that process (and maybe how to rectify it) or pointed out how the answer to Q_21266793 (as I linked to) didn't apply in this case. As no one else stepped up, I would contend I deserve all the points for this question.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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