Ok, partial day results. Looks like my changes have not solved the problem, just spread it out a little more (as would be expected based on your responses). The delays are now shorter (about half) but occur more frequently (maybe 1x / minute). The params I used are: bgwriter_lru_percent = 5.0 bgwriter_lru_maxpages = 100 bgwriter_all_percent = 5.0 bgwriter_all_maxpages = 100 wal_buffers = 20 checkpoint_segments = 10 shared_buffers = 196608 I'm going to do some reading today/tonight with the docs/links you have provided and give it another shot on Monday. Right now I'm leaning towards lowering my shared_buffers param as you suggested as third possibility. I will also take a look at the buffer cache data to get a better feel. It seems to me that the real solution is for me to stop using the database as an IPC system to pass somewhat time-critical data between processes. Given the time constraints I'm working under this unfortunately was the quickest route. Again, I can't say thanks enough for the great info you have provided. I'll continue to post any changes/results I make/see. Marc ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
