Re: BUG #4229: Page header error

"Valeriy" <tester080606(at)rambler(dot)ru> writes:
> Bug reference: 4229
> Logged by: Valeriy
> Email address: tester080606(at)rambler(dot)ru
> PostgreSQL version: 7.4.5
> Operating system: Linux 2.6.17
> Description: Page header error
> Details:

> We have PostgreSQL v. 7.4.5 and main application
> working with PGSQL via libpq. Linux 2.6.17.

> Page header error periodically occurs when
> main application is working hard.
> We repair it automatically using restore
> from night dump, no problems.

> There are some servers (among more than 20)
> that are loaded much less, so this error doesn't occur at all.

> Can we assume that this error is connected with
> high load of hardware only?

Theory 1: if your kernel is as old as your PG version, it very likely
has bugs in its disk drivers, which might only manifest under load.
Consider a newer kernel.

Theory 2: you are seeing intermittent hardware errors. In that case
you need to get new hardware, SOON. Hardware that has gotten flaky
is likely to stop working entirely at any time --- or at least have
the failure rate go high enough to make it unusable.

Looking into the kernel logs might offer some evidence to determine
which theory is correct.

BTW, you should read the release notes
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/release.html
and think hard about why you are still using 7.4.5 and not
7.4.19 or so. This particular symptom doesn't sound like any
known Postgres bug, but there are plenty of known bugs in 7.4.5.

regards, tom lane