Re: Performance and Generic Config after install

On Mon, Oct 02, 2006 at 02:40:03PM -0400, Oisin Glynn wrote:
> As an aside to the "[GENERAL] Advantages of PostgreSQL" thread going on
> today, I have wondered why the initial on install config of PostgreSQL
> is (according to most posts) very conservative. I can see how this

Actually, that's a bit of a hangover in much the way the reputation
of MySQL as having no support for ACID is: the last couple of
releases of Postgres try to make at least some effort at estimating
sane but safe basic configuration for the system when it's installed.

That said, there is something of a problem in auto-configuring a
cost-based planner and optimiser: some of the tuning is likely to be
extremely sensitive to other things you're doing on the box, which
means that you need to do a good, careful job for optimal
performance.

I often hear people complaining about this feature of Postgres in
comparison to MySQL. But it's not a reasonable comparison, because
MySQL basically uses a rule-based optimiser. And systems like DB2
and Oracle, that use a cost-based optimiser, are often far from
perfect after a fresh install, too.

A

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