Re: PostgreSQL on multi-CPU systems

On Thu, Mar 08, 2001 at 07:50:15AM -0500, D'Arcy J.M. Cain wrote:
> I am looking to beef up a PostgreSQL database by moving it to a Sun
> Enterprise or an Alpha ES-40 or some other multi-CPU platform. My
> questions are;
>
> - What suggestions do people have for a good PostgreSQL platform.
> - How well does PostgreSQLtake advantage of multiple CPUs?

i have postgres running on a couple dual-processor intel boxes running
freebsd.

under freebsd, the win is that the various backend processes will flit
between the CPU's, thus increasing the CPU utilization.

the win was not overly huge in our case, but it was in fact a win.

in one case, the system had numerous volitile multi-million record tables,
and was not performing adequately on a single cpu.

the system was migrated to a dual cpu solution (mind you the two CPU's were
each twice as fast as the previous single CPU) and things have been quite
manageable since.

another factor is to get your data on fast/striped disk.

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