effective_cache_size v824

Hi,

I'm playing around with the effective cache size setting today. Someone recommended the formula
((buffers + cached ) / 8 ) during heavy querying to optimize the 'Postgresql.conf' setting.

I have 4 separate physical servers and I have all of them set to 512 MB, even though the results of the formula show.

Server 1 1 GB
Server 2 1 GB
Server 3 2 GB
Server 4 2 GB

These results indicate that I should raise my effective_cache_size on all the servers. My shared buffers settings are all 256 MB.
Does it matter that I have 2 instances running on each of these servers? IOW, should I divide the results in half, one for each instance and go with this as the recommended effective_cache_size setting instead?

Server 1 512 MB

Server 2 512 MB

Server 3 1 GB

Server 4 1 GB

Thanks for any insight,
~DjK

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