shared_buffers v15

Parameter type: Integer

Default value: 32MB

Range: 128kB to system dependent

Minimum scope of effect: Cluster

When value changes take effect: Restart

Required authorization to activate: EDB Postgres Advanced Server service account

Sets the amount of memory the database server uses for shared memory buffers. The default is typically 32MB but might be less if your kernel settings don't support it, as determined during initdb. This setting must be at least 128kB. (Nondefault values of BLCKSZ change the minimum.) However, you usually need settings significantly higher than the minimum for good performance.

If you have a dedicated database server with 1GB or more of RAM, a reasonable starting value for shared_buffers is 25% of the memory in your system. For some workloads, even large settings for shared_buffers are effective. However, because EDB Postgres Advanced Server also relies on the operating system cache, allocating more than 40% of RAM to shared_buffers isn't likely to work better than a smaller amount.

On systems with less than 1GB of RAM, a smaller percentage of RAM is appropriate to leave space for the operating system. Fifteen percent of memory is more typical in these situations. Also, on Windows, large values for shared_buffers aren't as effective. You might have better results keeping the setting relatively low and using the operating system cache more instead. The useful range for shared_buffers on Windows systems is generally from 64MB to 512MB.

Increasing this parameter might cause EDB Postgres Advanced Server to request more System V shared memory than your operating system's default configuration allows. See Shared Memory and Semaphores in the PostgreSQL core documentation for information on how to adjust those parameters.