I have recently noticed that according to the ps command's output, all the Postgres processes are swapped to disk. E.g.: ps -ef | grep postgres postgres 1661 1 0 Jul18 ? 00:00:00 [postmaster] postgres 1665 1661 0 Jul18 ? 00:00:00 [postmaster] postgres 1666 1665 0 Jul18 ? 00:00:00 [postmaster] postgres 5984 1661 0 Jul27 ? 00:00:02 [postmaster] postgres 6057 1661 0 08:40 ? 00:00:00 [postmaster] postgres 6673 1661 0 09:30 ? 00:00:00 [postmaster] When I run top, the following is shown about 3 of the processes: PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ SWAP Command 1661 postgres 15 0 492 192 140 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.29 300 postmaster 1665 postgres 15 0 424 64 52 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05 360 postmaster 1666 postgres 15 0 544 220 216 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.08 324 postmaster Maybe I don't interpret this correctly or I don't understand it, but it shows that only part of those 3 processes's memory is swapped to disk. The other funny thing is that the ps command normally showed the command line info of the postmaster processes. I use it to see which users are using the DB. I only noticed last week that the ps command does not show any command line info about the postmaster processes. After some investigation, I saw that ps shows that about half of the processes (including vmware which is very active) is swapped out. This does not make sense. I also did a little test and ran a script that would run ps with a grep for postgres every second. Then I started runiing some bis queries on one of the databases. After a few minutes of hammering the database, ps did not once show a postmaster process to NOT be swapped out. Is this possible? This would mean that a postmaster process is swapped to RAM and back to disk within a second. Well, it will have to be swapped around several times, as I ran a few queries per second. Anybody seen something similar? Installed software: SuSE 8.2 Pro ps-2003.3.5-10 k_deflt-2.4.20-96 postgresql-7.3.2-24 postgresql-server-7.3.2-24 postgresql-libs-7.3.2-24 -- Andre Truter Software Engineer Registered Linux user #185282 ICQ #40935899 AIM: trusoftzaf http://www.trusoft.za.net ~ If you are in control, you are going too slow - Mario Andretti ~ Disclaimer and Confidentiality Warning This message is intended for the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are notified that any distribution, use of or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received the communication in error, please notify the sender immediately. The views and opinions expressed in this message are those of the individual sender of this message and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of ATIO. Consequently, ATIO does not accept responsibility for such views and opinions and this message should not be read as representing the views and opinions of ATIO without subsequent written confirmation. Each page attached hereto must also be read in conjunction with this disclaimer.