vacuumdb
vacuumdb — garbage-collect and analyze aPostgres Pro database
Synopsis
vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...] [-t |--tabletable [(column [,...] )] ] ... [dbname]
vacuumdb [connection-option...] [option...]-a |--all
Description
vacuumdb is a utility for cleaning aPostgres Pro database.vacuumdb will also generate internal statistics used by thePostgres Pro query optimizer.
vacuumdb is a wrapper around the SQL commandVACUUM. There is no effective difference between vacuuming and analyzing databases via this utility and via other methods for accessing the server.
Options
vacuumdb accepts the following command-line arguments:
-a--allVacuum all databases.
[-d]dbname[--dbname=]dbnameSpecifies the name of the database to be cleaned or analyzed, when
-a/--allis not used. If this is not specified, the database name is read from the environment variablePGDATABASE. If that is not set, the user name specified for the connection is used. Thedbnamecan be aconnection string. If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line options.--disable-page-skippingDisable skipping pages based on the contents of the visibility map.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgres Pro 9.6 and later.
-e--echoEcho the commands thatvacuumdb generates and sends to the server.
-f--fullPerform“full” vacuuming.
-F--freezeAggressively“freeze” tuples.
--force-index-cleanupAlways remove index entries pointing to dead tuples.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgreSQL 12 and later.
-jnjobs--jobs=njobsExecute the vacuum or analyze commands in parallel by running
njobscommands simultaneously. This option may reduce the processing time but it also increases the load on the database server.vacuumdb will open
njobsconnections to the database, so make sure yourmax_connections setting is high enough to accommodate all connections.Note that using this mode together with the
-f(FULL) option might cause deadlock failures if certain system catalogs are processed in parallel.--min-mxid-agemxid_ageOnly execute the vacuum or analyze commands on tables with a multixact ID age of at least
mxid_age. This setting is useful for prioritizing tables to process to prevent multixact ID wraparound (seeSection 23.1.5.1).For the purposes of this option, the multixact ID age of a relation is the greatest of the ages of the main relation and its associatedTOAST table, if one exists. Since the commands issued byvacuumdb will also process theTOAST table for the relation if necessary, it does not need to be considered separately.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgres Pro 9.6 and later.
--min-xid-agexid_ageOnly execute the vacuum or analyze commands on tables with a transaction ID age of at least
xid_age. This setting is useful for prioritizing tables to process to prevent transaction ID wraparound (seeSection 23.1.5).For the purposes of this option, the transaction ID age of a relation is the greatest of the ages of the main relation and its associatedTOAST table, if one exists. Since the commands issued byvacuumdb will also process theTOAST table for the relation if necessary, it does not need to be considered separately.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgres Pro 9.6 and later.
--no-index-cleanupDo not remove index entries pointing to dead tuples.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgres Pro 12 and later.
--no-process-toastSkip the TOAST table associated with the table to vacuum, if any.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgreSQL 14 and later.
--no-truncateDo not truncate empty pages at the end of the table.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgreSQL 12 and later.
-Pparallel_workers--parallel=parallel_workersSpecify the number of parallel workers forparallel vacuum. This allows the vacuum to leverage multiple CPUs to process indexes. SeeVACUUM.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgreSQL 13 and later.
-q--quietDo not display progress messages.
--skip-lockedSkip relations that cannot be immediately locked for processing.
Note
This option is only available for servers runningPostgreSQL 12 and later.
-ttable[ (column[,...]) ]--table=table[ (column[,...]) ]Clean or analyze
tableonly. Column names can be specified only in conjunction with the--analyzeor--analyze-onlyoptions. Multiple tables can be vacuumed by writing multiple-tswitches.Tip
If you specify columns, you probably have to escape the parentheses from the shell. (See examples below.)
-v--verbosePrint detailed information during processing.
-V--versionPrint thevacuumdb version and exit.
-z--analyzeAlso calculate statistics for use by the optimizer.
-Z--analyze-onlyOnly calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum).
--analyze-in-stagesOnly calculate statistics for use by the optimizer (no vacuum), like
--analyze-only. Run three stages of analyze; the first stage uses the lowest possible statistics target (seedefault_statistics_target) to produce usable statistics faster, and subsequent stages build the full statistics.This option is only useful to analyze a database that currently has no statistics or has wholly incorrect ones, such as if it is newly populated from a restored dump or by
pg_upgrade. Be aware that running with this option in a database with existing statistics may cause the query optimizer choices to become transiently worse due to the low statistics targets of the early stages.-?--helpShow help aboutvacuumdb command line arguments, and exit.
vacuumdb also accepts the following command-line arguments for connection parameters:
-hhost--host=hostSpecifies the host name of the machine on which the server is running. If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix domain socket.
-pport--port=portSpecifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file extension on which the server is listening for connections.
-Uusername--username=usernameUser name to connect as.
-w--no-passwordNever issue a password prompt. If the server requires password authentication and a password is not available by other means such as a
.pgpassfile, the connection attempt will fail. This option can be useful in batch jobs and scripts where no user is present to enter a password.-W--passwordForcevacuumdb to prompt for a password before connecting to a database.
This option is never essential, sincevacuumdb will automatically prompt for a password if the server demands password authentication. However,vacuumdb will waste a connection attempt finding out that the server wants a password. In some cases it is worth typing
-Wto avoid the extra connection attempt.--maintenance-db=dbnameWhen the
-a/--allis used, connect to this database to gather the list of databases to vacuum. If not specified, thepostgresdatabase will be used, or if that does not exist,template1will be used. This can be aconnection string. If so, connection string parameters will override any conflicting command line options. Also, connection string parameters other than the database name itself will be re-used when connecting to other databases.
Environment
PGDATABASEPGHOSTPGPORTPGUSERDefault connection parameters
PG_COLORSpecifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are
always,autoandnever.
This utility, like most otherPostgres Pro utilities, also uses the environment variables supported bylibpq (seeSection 33.15).
Diagnostics
In case of difficulty, seeVACUUM andpsql for discussions of potential problems and error messages. The database server must be running at the targeted host. Also, any default connection settings and environment variables used by thelibpq front-end library will apply.
Notes
vacuumdb might need to connect several times to thePostgres Pro server, asking for a password each time. It is convenient to have a~/.pgpass file in such cases. SeeSection 33.16 for more information.
Examples
To clean the databasetest:
$vacuumdb test
To clean and analyze for the optimizer a database namedbigdb:
$vacuumdb --analyze bigdb
To clean a single tablefoo in a database namedxyzzy, and analyze a single columnbar of the table for the optimizer:
$vacuumdb --analyze --verbose --table='foo(bar)' xyzzy