Hardware Requirements


In contrast to many other databases, such as Oracle, PostgreSQL is designed to run even on very slow machines that provide only a few megabytes of memory. This does not mean that PostgreSQL does not perform well on strong machines. Depending on the machine you want to run PostgreSQL on, the database system can be tuned very effectively to reach maximum performance.

The minimum amount of memory available cannot be evaluated because it is hardware- and compiler-dependent. Different compilers generate different code on every system, and therefore the core binaries that the database has to keep in memory are not always the same size . In general, the more memory you have, the faster your system will work and the more queries can be run simultaneously .

There is also no minimum clock frequency your processor has to provide. The faster your processor is, the more performance can be achieved (depending on the quality of your compiler, of course). PostgreSQL is available for a variety of different microprocessors and for a lot of operating systems, such as Linux, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows.

PostgreSQL has been written in C, so the source code is portable. Table 2.1 lists all the systems PostgreSQL has been tested with. " Tested " means that PostgreSQL can be compiled successfully and that all regression tests can be executed without any problems. Table 2.1 is taken from the PostgreSQL Web site.

Table 2.1. Systems with Which PostgreSQL Has Been Tested
OS Processor Version Remarks
AIX 4.3.3 RS6000 7.1 See also doc/FAQ_AIX
BeOS 5.0.4 x86 7.1 Requires new BONE networking stack
BSD/OS 4.01 x86 7.1  
Compaq Tru64 UNIX Alpha 7.1 4.0 “5.0, cc and gcc
FreeBSD 4.3 x86 7.1  
HP/UX PA-RISC 7.1 32- and 64-bit on 11.00; see also doc/FAQ_HPUX
IRIX 6.5.11 MIPS 7.1 32-bit compilation model
Linux 2.2.x Alpha 7.1  
Linux 2.2.x armv4l 7.1  
Linux 2.0.x MIPS 7.1 Cobalt Qube
Linux 2.2.18 PPC74xx 7.1 Apple G3
Linux S/390 7.1  
Linux 2.2.15 Sparc 7.1  
Linux x86 7.1 2.0.x, 2.2.x, 2.4.2
MacOS X PPC 7.1 Darwin (only) Beta-2 or higher
NetBSD 1.5 Alpha 7.1  
NetBSD 1.5E arm32 7.1  
NetBSD m68k 7.0 Mac 8xx
NetBSD PPC 7.1 Mac G4
NetBSD Sparc 7.1 32- and 64-bit builds
NetBSD 1.5 VAX 7.1  
NetBSD 1.5 x86 7.1  
OpenBSD 2.8 Sparc 7.1  
OpenBSD 2.8 x86 7.1  
SCO UnixWare 7.1.1 x86 7.1 UDK FS compiler; see also doc/FAQ_SCO
Solaris 2.7-8 Sparc 7.1 See also doc/FAQ_Solaris
Solaris 2.8 x86 7.1 See also doc/FAQ_Solaris
SunOS 4.1.4 Sparc 7.1  
Windows NT/2000 with Cygwin x86 7.1 With Cygwin toolset, see doc/FAQ_MSWIN

Some platforms are not officially supported by the PostgreSQL developers team. However, it has been reported that some platforms not listed in the table are capable of running PostgreSQL. In some cases, there is no official guarantee that the latest version of PostgreSQL can be run; but the fact that previous versions of PostgreSQL worked indicates that you have a good chance to run PostgreSQL on one of them. These platforms are listed in Table 2.2 (also taken from the PostgreSQL developers Web site). The column labeled Version tells you which version of PostgreSQL has already been run on the platforms listed in this table.

Table 2.2. Platforms on Which to Run PostgreSQL
OS Processor Version Remarks
DGUX 5.4R4.11 m88k 6.3 6.4 probably OK
MkLinux DR1 PPC750 7.0 7.1 needs OS update?
NextStep x86 6.x Bit rot suspected
QNX 4.25 x86 7.0 Spinlock code needs work; see also doc/FAQ_QNX4
SCO OpenServer 5 x86 6.5 7.1 should work, but no reports ; see also doc/FAQ_SCO
System V R4 m88k 6.2.1 Needs new TAS spinlock code
System V R4 MIPS 6.4 No 64-bit integer
Ultrix MIPS 7.1 TAS spinlock code not detected
Ultrix VAX 6.x No recent reports ”obsolete?
Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000 (native) x86 7.1 Client-side libraries (libpq and psql) or ODBC/JDBC, no server-side


PostgreSQL Developer's Handbook2001
PostgreSQL Developer's Handbook2001
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 125

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