Can I safely kill a VACUUM ANALYZE with pg_cancel_backend 8.3

HI,=20
I have a vacuum process that has been running on a table for the past 20 da=
ys.
The server is postgres 8.3 on ubuntu linux.

Can I safely kill the vacuum with:
select pg_cancel_backend(26433)

Some stats
The table sees ~5million and not more than ~10million updates month

$ ps aux | grep 26433
postgres 26433 0.0 1.5 35468848 2012212 ? Ss Apr08 26:00 postgres: =
autovacuum worker process foo

foo=3D# select procpid, now() - query_start, query_start, current_query fro=
m pg_stat_activity where current_query !=3D ''order by 1 desc;
procpid | ?column? | query_start | =
current_query =20=
=20=
=20=

---------+-------------------------+------------------------ -------+-------=
------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------=
-----------------------------------------------------
26433 | 20 days 20:11:32.386244 | 2010-04-08 14:19:59.298784-07 | autovac=
uum: VACUUM ANALYZE public.message

Thanks,
Jason



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Re: Can I safely kill a VACUUM ANALYZE with pg_cancel_backend 8.3

Jason Culverhouse writes:
> I have a vacuum process that has been running on a table for the past 20 days.
> The server is postgres 8.3 on ubuntu linux.

> Can I safely kill the vacuum with:
> select pg_cancel_backend(26433)

Sure.

20 days is a long time. Is it actually running, or blocked on a lock?
If not blocked, I have to guess that you've chosen very poor vacuum
delay settings.

regards, tom lane

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Re: Can I safely kill a VACUUM ANALYZE with

Jason Culverhouse wrote:

> The server is postgres 8.3 on ubuntu linux.

There have been a number of bugs fixed in vacuuming, including
autovacuum, since the original 8.3 release. I hope you mean
8.3.somethingrecent -- if not, you should get the latest fixes.

> Can I safely kill the vacuum with:
> select pg_cancel_backend(26433)

That is safe. If it doesn't work, you may need a bigger hammer.

-Kevin

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