Shane Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> If we turn sync off, surely PostgreSQL keeps the data consistent, ext3
> journalling  keeps the filesystem clean [assuming other mount options left at
> defaults], and then everything should be ok with either a server crash, power
> failure, storage failure, whatever.  right?

I checked around with some of Red Hat's kernel folk, and the bottom line
seems to be that it's OK as long as you trust the hardware:

:> Question is, can fsync(2) be trusted to behave properly, ie, not return
:> until all writes are down to disk, if the SAN is mounted -o async ?
:
: async is the default, which is the whole point of having things like 
: fsync, fdatasync, O_DIRECT, etc.  You can trust fsync as far as you can 
: trust the hardware.  The call will not return until the SAN says the 
: data has been written.
: 
: In reality, the SAN is probably buffering these writes (possibly into 
: SRAM or battery-backed RAM), and the disks are probably buffering them 
: again, but you've got redundant power supplies and UPSs, right?

                        regards, tom lane

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