Due to performance issues (which I wrote
about on pg-performance list) we will be upgrading our Redhat AS3.0 box (kernel
2.4) to Redhat AS4 (kernel 2.6) in order to take advantage of the better I/O
that the 2.6 kernel offers. (I say upgrading but
actually we'll wipe the box and start fresh.)
We are running
Postgres 8.0.3.
I had assumed we would have to backup/restore the
entire db, but I got to wondering if it would be possible to simply point the
new Postgres install to the existing db (the data itself is on a separate drive
array) and be back up and running without the time to do the
restore.
Is this a relatively simple matter? Or is it too
hazardous and tricky to bother with?
If it's possible I'd appreciate a list of what I'd
need to save off the old drive, where the os and Postgres program itself
lived.
Also: Anything to watch out for with Postgres on
2.6 kernel as opposed to 2.4? Any settings that should be different? We've been
advised to try "elevator=deadline". We write pretty much 24 hours a day, and
have I/O issues!
-Roger
