Thom, > I have a server running 8.3.1 with 16Gb of memory and 8x2.5Ghz cores. The > max_connections was set to 100 (the default), but we were getting denied > connections because it had exceeded the max. We increased this to a modest > 250, stopped the service, and then tried to start. It wouldn't. We stopped > it several times, made sure all postgres-related processes were killed off > but nothing would make it start. Actually, it said it had started, but it > hadn't. When setting it back to 100 it was okay again. We tried the same > thing on another server, setting it to 1000, and that was fine. Maybe you are missing: # Note: Increasing max_connections costs ~400 bytes of shared memory per # connection slot, plus lock space (see max_locks_per_transaction). You might # also need to raise shared_buffers to support more connections. To help debugging, your report is essentially missing the operating system your computer is running on and the output from the log files. If PostgreSQL does not start, it writes out a reason to its logfiles. For example in default installations on Windows you will find your logfiles within the PostgreSQL-Data-Directory in subdir pg_log best wishes, Harald -- GHUM Harald Massa persuadere et programmare Harald Armin Massa Spielberger Straße 49 70435 Stuttgart 0173/9409607 no fx, no carrier pigeon - EuroPython 2009 will take place in Birmingham - Stay tuned! -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general