autovacuum on updated rows

[Stephen Byers <stephenabyers@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am using new postgres 8.1 and also trying out the integrated autovacuum.  I have a concern.

 

I have a table where I perform an update on a row every 10 seconds.  The table is VERY small.  Hardly any INSERTS, no DELETES, and a ton of UPDATES.

 

adbs_db=# select count(*) from volumes;
 count
-------
     7
(1 row)

 

 

I am looking at the file sizes that correspond to this table and its indeces.  They are growing -- I think I understand why -- dead rows are occuring on an UPDATE.  But what I don't understand is why autovacuum has not kicked in-- I have kept the default values on autovacuum.

 

In about 50 minutes' time, the table itself has grown 2MB, and each index has grown by about 1MB

 

Will autovacuum eventually run on this table????  What rows/columns does autovacuum look at to determine when to work on a table?  I'd like to look at those rows, too.

 

Thanks!!

Steve

 

 

adbs_db=# \d volumes
                     Table "public.volumes"
      Column      |          Type          |     Modifiers     
------------------+------------------------+--------------------
 label            | character varying(128) | not null
 imported         | boolean                | not null
 closed           | boolean                | not null
 active           | boolean                | not null
 online           | boolean                | not null
 offline          | boolean                | not null
 archiver_name    | character varying(32)  | not null
 environment_name | character varying(32)  | not null
 curr_size        | bigint                 | not null default 0
 vol_num          | integer                | not null
 start_time       | integer                |
 stop_time        | integer                |
Indexes:
    "volumes_i1" unique, btree (label)
    "volumes_i2" btree (environment_name)

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