* Craig Ringer: > On 16/12/2009 3:54 PM, Florian Weimer wrote: >> * Michael Clark: >> >>> The solution to the problem seemed to be to change the value for the >>> wal_sync_method setting to fsync_writethrough from the default of fsync. >>> I was curious if there were perhaps any other reasons that we should look >>> at? Or if there may be other alternatives to changing the wal_sync_method >>> setting. >> >> Fsync and related settings only matter if the operating system (not >> just the database) crashes. Does this happen frequently for you? > > When you're dealing with end users who have machines running > god-knows-what kinds of awful hardware drivers Even Mac OS X? There should be less variety. > and with no power protection, then I expect it does. Add laptop > users with ageing/flakey batteries, laptops let go flat after they > go into powersave suspend, etc, and you're sure to see plenty of > cases of apparent crashes. I hope that Mac OS X turns off write caches on low battery. Improperly disconnected external drives are quite common and the effect mimics operating system crashes, but is it common to store PostgreSQL databases there? I don't think so. -- Florian Weimer <fweimer@xxxxxx> BFK edv-consulting GmbH http://www.bfk.de/ Kriegsstraße 100 tel: +49-721-96201-1 D-76133 Karlsruhe fax: +49-721-96201-99 -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
