The definitions of the columns exposed by the view are shown in Table F.14.

There is one row for each buffer in the shared cache. Unused buffers are shown with all fields null except bufferid. Shared system catalogs are shown as belonging to database zero.

Because the cache is shared by all the databases, there will normally be pages from relations not belonging to the current database. This means that there may not be matching join rows in pg_class for some rows, or that there could even be incorrect joins. If you are trying to join against pg_class, it's a good idea to restrict the join to rows having reldatabase equal to the current database's OID or zero.

Since buffer manager locks are not taken to copy the buffer state data that the view will display, accessing pg_buffercache view has less impact on normal buffer activity but it doesn't provide a consistent set of results across all buffers. However, we ensure that the information of each buffer is self-consistent.

The definitions of the columns exposed by the view are shown in Table F.15.

As NUMA node ID inquiry for each page requires memory pages to be paged-in, the first execution of this function can take a noticeable amount of time. In all the cases (first execution or not), retrieving this information is costly and querying the view at a high frequency is not recommended.

The definitions of the columns exposed by the function are shown in Table F.16.

The pg_buffercache_summary() function returns a single row summarizing the state of all shared buffers. Similar and more detailed information is provided by the pg_buffercache view, but pg_buffercache_summary() is significantly cheaper.

Like the pg_buffercache view, pg_buffercache_summary() does not acquire buffer manager locks. Therefore concurrent activity can lead to minor inaccuracies in the result.

The definitions of the columns exposed by the function are shown in Table F.17.

The pg_buffercache_usage_counts() function returns a set of rows summarizing the states of all shared buffers, aggregated over the possible usage count values. Similar and more detailed information is provided by the pg_buffercache view, but pg_buffercache_usage_counts() is significantly cheaper.

Like the pg_buffercache view, pg_buffercache_usage_counts() does not acquire buffer manager locks. Therefore concurrent activity can lead to minor inaccuracies in the result.

The pg_buffercache_evict() function takes a buffer identifier, as shown in the bufferid column of the pg_buffercache view. It returns information about whether the buffer was evicted and flushed. The buffer_evicted column is true on success, and false if the buffer wasn't valid, if it couldn't be evicted because it was pinned, or if it became dirty again after an attempt to write it out. The buffer_flushed column is true if the buffer was flushed. This does not necessarily mean that buffer was flushed by us, it might be flushed by someone else. The result is immediately out of date upon return, as the buffer might become valid again at any time due to concurrent activity. The function is intended for developer testing only.

The pg_buffercache_evict_relation() function is very similar to the pg_buffercache_evict() function. The difference is that the pg_buffercache_evict_relation() takes a relation identifier instead of buffer identifier. It tries to evict all buffers for all forks in that relation. It returns the number of evicted buffers, flushed buffers and the number of buffers that could not be evicted. Flushed buffers haven't necessarily been flushed by us, they might have been flushed by someone else. The result is immediately out of date upon return, as buffers might immediately be read back in due to concurrent activity. The function is intended for developer testing only.

The pg_buffercache_evict_all() function is very similar to the pg_buffercache_evict() function. The difference is, the pg_buffercache_evict_all() function does not take an argument; instead it tries to evict all buffers in the buffer pool. It returns the number of evicted buffers, flushed buffers and the number of buffers that could not be evicted. Flushed buffers haven't necessarily been flushed by us, they might have been flushed by someone else. The result is immediately out of date upon return, as buffers might immediately be read back in due to concurrent activity. The function is intended for developer testing only.

regression=# SELECT n.nspname, c.relname, count(*) AS buffers
             FROM pg_buffercache b JOIN pg_class c
             ON b.relfilenode = pg_relation_filenode(c.oid) AND
                b.reldatabase IN (0, (SELECT oid FROM pg_database
                                      WHERE datname = current_database()))
             JOIN pg_namespace n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
             GROUP BY n.nspname, c.relname
             ORDER BY 3 DESC
             LIMIT 10;

  nspname   |        relname         | buffers
------------+------------------------+---------
 public     | delete_test_table      |     593
 public     | delete_test_table_pkey |     494
 pg_catalog | pg_attribute           |     472
 public     | quad_poly_tbl          |     353
 public     | tenk2                  |     349
 public     | tenk1                  |     349
 public     | gin_test_idx           |     306
 pg_catalog | pg_largeobject         |     206
 public     | gin_test_tbl           |     188
 public     | spgist_text_tbl        |     182
(10 rows)


regression=# SELECT * FROM pg_buffercache_summary();
 buffers_used | buffers_unused | buffers_dirty | buffers_pinned | usagecount_avg
--------------+----------------+---------------+----------------+----------------
          248 |        2096904 |            39 |              0 |       3.141129
(1 row)


regression=# SELECT * FROM pg_buffercache_usage_counts();
 usage_count | buffers | dirty | pinned
-------------+---------+-------+--------
           0 |   14650 |     0 |      0
           1 |    1436 |   671 |      0
           2 |     102 |    88 |      0
           3 |      23 |    21 |      0
           4 |       9 |     7 |      0
           5 |     164 |   106 |      0
(6 rows)

Mark Kirkwood <[email protected]>

Design suggestions: Neil Conway <[email protected]>

Debugging advice: Tom Lane <[email protected]>