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-$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml,v 1.50 2007/02/16 02:10:07 alvherre Exp $
+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml,v 1.51 2007/07/09 01:08:09 tgl Exp $
PostgreSQL documentation
-->
<command>postgres</command> is the
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database server. In order
for a client application to access a database it connects (over a
- network or locally) to a running <command>postgres</command> process.
+ network or locally) to a running <command>postgres</command> instance.
The <command>postgres</command> instance then starts a separate server
process to handle the connection.
</para>
<para>
- One <command>postgres</command> instance always manages the data from
+ One <command>postgres</command> instance always manages the data of
exactly one database cluster. A database cluster is a collection
of databases that is stored at a common file system location (the
<quote>data area</quote>). More than one
- <command>postgres</command> process can run on a system at one
+ <command>postgres</command> instance can run on a system at one
time, so long as they use different data areas and different
communication ports (see below). When
<command>postgres</command> starts it needs to know the location
<para>
Sets the number of shared buffers for use by the server
processes. The default value of this parameter is chosen
- automatically by <application>initdb</application>; refer to <xref
- linkend="runtime-config-resource-memory"> for more information.
+ automatically by <application>initdb</application>.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the
+ <xref linkend="guc-shared-buffers"> configuration parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
Sets the maximum number of client connections that this
- server will accept. By
- default, this value is 32, but it can be set as high as your
- system will support. (Note that
- <option>-B</option> is required to be at least twice
- <option>-N</option>. See <xref linkend="kernel-resources"> for a discussion of
- system resource requirements for large numbers of client
- connections.) Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the
+ server will accept. The default value of this parameter is chosen
+ automatically by <application>initdb</application>.
+ Specifying this option is equivalent to setting the
<xref linkend="guc-max-connections"> configuration parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
<term><option>-o <replaceable class="parameter">extra-options</replaceable></option></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The command line-style options specified in <replaceable
+ The command-line-style options specified in <replaceable
class="parameter">extra-options</replaceable> are passed to
all server processes started by this
<command>postgres</command> process. If the option string contains
<title>Semi-internal Options</title>
<para>
- There are several other options that can be specified, used
- mainly for debugging purposes and in some cases to assist with
+ The options described here are used
+ mainly for debugging purposes, and in some cases to assist with
recovery of severely damaged databases. There should be no reason
- to use them in a production database setup. These are listed
- here only for the use by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
+ to use them in a production database setup. They are listed
+ here only for use by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
system developers. Furthermore, these options might
change or be removed in a future release without notice.
</para>
<term><replaceable class="parameter">database</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Specifies the name of the database to be accessed. If it is
- omitted it defaults to the user name.
+ Specifies the name of the database to be accessed. This must be
+ the last argument on the command line. If it is
+ omitted it defaults to the user name.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<refsect1>
<title>Notes</title>
+
+ <para>
+ The utility command <xref linkend="app-pg-ctl"> can be used to
+ start and shut down the <command>postgres</command> server
+ safely and comfortably.
+ </para>
<para>
If at all possible, <emphasis>do not</emphasis> use
all clients to terminate before quitting, the second will
forcefully disconnect all clients, and the third will quit
immediately without proper shutdown, resulting in a recovery run
- during restart. The <literal>SIGHUP</literal> signal will reload
- the server configuration files. It is also possible to send
- <literal>SIGHUP</literal> to an individual server process, but that
- is usually not sensible.
+ during restart.
</para>
<para>
- The utility command <xref linkend="app-pg-ctl"> can be used to
- start and shut down the <command>postgres</command> server
- safely and comfortably.
+ The <literal>SIGHUP</literal> signal will reload
+ the server configuration files. It is also possible to send
+ <literal>SIGHUP</literal> to an individual server process, but that
+ is usually not sensible.
</para>
<para>