11<!--
2- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml,v 1.289 2004/10/17 22:01:49 tgl Exp $
2+ $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml,v 1.290 2004/11/04 19:08:30 tgl Exp $
33-->
44
55<Chapter Id="runtime">
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ SET ENABLE_SEQSCAN TO OFF;
583583 <listitem>
584584 <para>
585585 Specifies the main server configuration file
586- (customarily called <filename>postgresql.conf</>).
586+ (customarily called <filename>postgresql.conf</>).
587587 This option can only be set on the postmaster command line.
588588 </para>
589589 </listitem>
@@ -615,8 +615,8 @@ SET ENABLE_SEQSCAN TO OFF;
615615 <listitem>
616616 <para>
617617 Specifies that the <application>postmaster</> should create an
618- additional process-id (PID) file for use by server administration
619- programs.
618+ additional process-id (PID) file for use by server administration
619+ programs.
620620 This option can only be set at server start.
621621 </para>
622622 </listitem>
@@ -1666,9 +1666,20 @@ archive_command = 'copy "%p" /mnt/server/archivedir/"%f"' # Win32
16661666 <listitem>
16671667 <para>
16681668 Sets the planner's assumption about the effective size of the
1669- disk cache (that is, the portion of the kernel's disk cache
1670- that will be used for <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
1671- data files). This is measured in disk pages, which are
1669+ disk cache that is available to a single index scan. This is
1670+ factored into estimates of the cost of using an index; a higher
1671+ value makes it more likely index scans will be used, a lower
1672+ value makes it more likely sequential scans will be used. When
1673+ setting this parameter you should consider both
1674+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s shared buffers and the
1675+ portion of the kernel's disk cache that will be used for
1676+ <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> data files. Also, take into
1677+ account the expected number of concurrent queries using different
1678+ indexes, since they will have to share the available space.
1679+ This parameter has no effect on the size of shared memory
1680+ allocated by PostgreSQL, nor does it reserve kernel disk cache;
1681+ it is used only for estimation purposes.
1682+ The value is measured in disk pages, which are
16721683 normally 8192 bytes each. The default is 1000.
16731684 </para>
16741685 </listitem>
@@ -1678,7 +1689,7 @@ archive_command = 'copy "%p" /mnt/server/archivedir/"%f"' # Win32
16781689 <term><varname>random_page_cost</varname> (<type>floating point</type>)</term>
16791690 <listitem>
16801691 <para>
1681- Sets thequery planner's estimate of the cost of a
1692+ Sets the planner's estimate of the cost of a
16821693 nonsequentially fetched disk page. This is measured as a
16831694 multiple of the cost of a sequential page fetch. A higher
16841695 value makes it more likely a sequential scan will be used, a
@@ -1692,7 +1703,7 @@ archive_command = 'copy "%p" /mnt/server/archivedir/"%f"' # Win32
16921703 <term><varname>cpu_tuple_cost</varname> (<type>floating point</type>)</term>
16931704 <listitem>
16941705 <para>
1695- Sets thequery planner's estimate of the cost of processing
1706+ Sets the planner's estimate of the cost of processing
16961707 each row during a query. This is measured as a fraction of
16971708 the cost of a sequential page fetch. The default is 0.01.
16981709 </para>
@@ -1703,7 +1714,7 @@ archive_command = 'copy "%p" /mnt/server/archivedir/"%f"' # Win32
17031714 <term><varname>cpu_index_tuple_cost</varname> (<type>floating point</type>)</term>
17041715 <listitem>
17051716 <para>
1706- Sets thequery planner's estimate of the cost of processing
1717+ Sets the planner's estimate of the cost of processing
17071718 each index row during an index scan. This is measured as a
17081719 fraction of the cost of a sequential page fetch. The default
17091720 is 0.001.