On a Linux system you can use tools like "sar" and "iostat" to watch disk activity and view the writes/second or I am sure there are other tools you can use. Watch CPU and memory with "top" If it does appear to be an I/O issue there are some things you can do in either hardware or software, or if it is a CPU/ memory issue building indexes or running updates on triggers A simple suggestion is: Move the bulk insert application to run during 'off' or 'slow' hours if possible. Some Software suggestions are: Use the PG "Copy" to do the bulk insert http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/static/sql-copy.html (or) Drop the indexes (or triggers), do the inserts and build indexes and triggers. Some Hardware suggestions are dependendent on if it is I/O, CPU, or memory bottleneck. Deron On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Campbell, Lance <lance@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > PostgreSQL 9.0.x > > We have around ten different applications that use the same database. When > one particular application is active it does an enormous number of inserts. > Each insert is very small. During this time the database seems to slow down > in general. The application in question is inserting into a particular > table that is not used by the other applications. > > > > 1) What should I do to confirm that the database is the issue and not > the applications? > > 2) How can I identify where the bottle neck is occurring if the issue > happens to be with the database? > > > > I have been using PostgreSQL for eight years. It is an amazing database. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Lance Campbell > > Software Architect > > Web Services at Public Affairs > > 217-333-0382 > > -- Sent via pgsql-performance mailing list (pgsql-performance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-performance