Re: Missing database entry in pg_database

Robert Korteweg <robert(at)sambalbij(dot)nl> writes:
> I have a problem with a database i'm maintaining. I first noticed the
> problem because i could not make a backup of the database i got the
> following error:

> pg_dump: missing pg_database entry for database "xxx"

> I verified this by selecting the pg_database. It was indeed gone.

> I did some more diggin and noticed that on doing a describe (\d <table>)
> of a table i could not see any or some of the columns in the table, and
> a few tables i also could just see the correct layout. It looks random.

This sounds suspiciously like a transaction ID wraparound problem.

> The database is a very active database. It is running on Postgresql 7.3.
> The database is getting a VACUUM FULL ANALYZE every night.

The *entire* database ... or are you just vacuuming the user tables
and not the system catalogs? Daily vacuuming of the catalogs should
have prevented any such problem (unless you are managing to exceed
1 billion transactions per day...)

regards, tom lane