Thank you all - that's really useful :-) The other query that gets blocked behind the vacuum is the below (truncated). This query is generated by jdbc in this method: org.postgresql.jdbc2.AbstractJdbc2DatabaseMetaData.getIndexInfo(AbstractJdbc2DatabaseMetaData.java:4023) Even though this is a read only query, is it also expected to be blocked behind the vacuum? Is there a way of getting indexes for a table which won't be blocked behind a vacuum? Thank you all again, Tim SELECT NULL AS TABLE_CAT, n.nspname AS TABLE_SCHEM, ct.relname AS TABLE_NAME, NOT i.indisunique AS NON_UNIQUE, NULL AS INDEX_QUALIFIER, ci.relname AS INDEX_NAME, CASE i.indisclustered WHEN true THEN 1 ELSE CASE am.amname WHEN 'hash' THEN 2 ELSE 3 END END AS TYPE, (i.keys).n AS ORDINAL_POSITION, pg_catalog.pg_get_indexdef(ci.oid, (i.keys).n, false) AS COLUMN_NAME, CASE am.amcanorder WHEN true THEN CASE i.indoption[(i.keys).n - 1] & 1 WHEN 1 THEN 'D' ELSE 'A' END ELSE NULL END AS ASC_OR_DESC, ci.reltuples AS CARDINALITY, ci.relpages AS PAGES, pg_catalog.pg_get_expr(i.indpred, i.indrelid) AS FILTER_CONDITION FROM pg_catalog.pg_class ct JOIN pg_catalog.pg_namespace n ON (ct.relnamespace = n.oid) JOIN (SELECT i.indexrelid, i.indrelid, i.indoption, i.indisunique, i.indisclustered, i.indpred, i.indexprs, information_schema._pg_expandarray(i.indkey) AS keys FROM pg_catalog.pg_index i) i ON (ct.oid = i.ind -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general