• Heikki Linnakangas's avatar
    Replace checkpoint_segments with min_wal_size and max_wal_size. · 88e98230
    Heikki Linnakangas authored
    Instead of having a single knob (checkpoint_segments) that both triggers
    checkpoints, and determines how many checkpoints to recycle, they are now
    separate concerns. There is still an internal variable called
    CheckpointSegments, which triggers checkpoints. But it no longer determines
    how many segments to recycle at a checkpoint. That is now auto-tuned by
    keeping a moving average of the distance between checkpoints (in bytes),
    and trying to keep that many segments in reserve. The advantage of this is
    that you can set max_wal_size very high, but the system won't actually
    consume that much space if there isn't any need for it. The min_wal_size
    sets a floor for that; you can effectively disable the auto-tuning behavior
    by setting min_wal_size equal to max_wal_size.
    
    The max_wal_size setting is now the actual target size of WAL at which a
    new checkpoint is triggered, instead of the distance between checkpoints.
    Previously, you could calculate the actual WAL usage with the formula
    "(2 + checkpoint_completion_target) * checkpoint_segments + 1". With this
    patch, you set the desired WAL usage with max_wal_size, and the system
    calculates the appropriate CheckpointSegments with the reverse of that
    formula. That's a lot more intuitive for administrators to set.
    
    Reviewed by Amit Kapila and Venkata Balaji N.
    88e98230
wal.sgml 38.1 KB