Re: Requirements for a database server

Robert(dot)Farrugia(at)go(dot)com(dot)mt writes:
> I have been using postgres for the last year now. The database has grown
> from a mere few MBs to over 100GB data and expected to top up 300GB by the
> end of the year. Lately performance of queries, inserts, updates has
> continued to grow worse as the dataset has grown larger, even though most
> queries have indexes on them, while vacuuming the database has become a
> nightmare.

Have you tried dropping and rebuilding the indexes?

Currently, PG doesn't reclaim dead space in indexes very effectively,
so the indexes on a frequently-updated table tend to grow without bound.
(I may or may not be able to fix this for 7.2 --- it's next on my
to-look-at list, but no promises.) In the meantime, an occasional
rebuild may help restore performance.

BTW, the vacuuming issue is pretty well fixed for 7.2 ...

regards, tom lane