PostgreSQL: Documentation: 18: Chapter 19. Server Configuration

PostgreSQL: Documentation: 18: Chapter 19. Server Configuration
February 26, 2026:
PostgreSQL 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 15.17, and 14.22 Released!
Documentation
PostgreSQL 18
Supported Versions:
Current
18

17
16
15
14
Development Versions:
devel
Unsupported versions:
13
12
11
10
9.6
9.5
9.4
9.3
9.2
9.1
9.0
8.4
8.3
8.2
8.1
8.0
7.4
7.3
7.2
7.1
Chapter 19. Server Configuration
Prev
Up
Part III. Server Administration
Next
Chapter 19. Server Configuration
Table of Contents
19.1. Setting Parameters
19.1.1. Parameter Names and Values
19.1.2. Parameter Interaction via the Configuration File
19.1.3. Parameter Interaction via SQL
19.1.4. Parameter Interaction via the Shell
19.1.5. Managing Configuration File Contents
19.2. File Locations
19.3. Connections and Authentication
19.3.1. Connection Settings
19.3.2. TCP Settings
19.3.3. Authentication
19.3.4. SSL
19.4. Resource Consumption
19.4.1. Memory
19.4.2. Disk
19.4.3. Kernel Resource Usage
19.4.4. Background Writer
19.4.5. I/O
19.4.6. Worker Processes
19.5. Write Ahead Log
19.5.1. Settings
19.5.2. Checkpoints
19.5.3. Archiving
19.5.4. Recovery
19.5.5. Archive Recovery
19.5.6. Recovery Target
19.5.7. WAL Summarization
19.6. Replication
19.6.1. Sending Servers
19.6.2. Primary Server
19.6.3. Standby Servers
19.6.4. Subscribers
19.7. Query Planning
19.7.1. Planner Method Configuration
19.7.2. Planner Cost Constants
19.7.3. Genetic Query Optimizer
19.7.4. Other Planner Options
19.8. Error Reporting and Logging
19.8.1. Where to Log
19.8.2. When to Log
19.8.3. What to Log
19.8.4. Using CSV-Format Log Output
19.8.5. Using JSON-Format Log Output
19.8.6. Process Title
19.9. Run-time Statistics
19.9.1. Cumulative Query and Index Statistics
19.9.2. Statistics Monitoring
19.10. Vacuuming
19.10.1. Automatic Vacuuming
19.10.2. Cost-based Vacuum Delay
19.10.3. Default Behavior
19.10.4. Freezing
19.11. Client Connection Defaults
19.11.1. Statement Behavior
19.11.2. Locale and Formatting
19.11.3. Shared Library Preloading
19.11.4. Other Defaults
19.12. Lock Management
19.13. Version and Platform Compatibility
19.13.1. Previous PostgreSQL Versions
19.13.2. Platform and Client Compatibility
19.14. Error Handling
19.15. Preset Options
19.16. Customized Options
19.17. Developer Options
19.18. Short Options
There are many configuration parameters that affect the behavior of the database system. In the first section of this chapter we describe how to interact with configuration parameters. The subsequent sections discuss each parameter in detail.
Prev
Up
Next
18.12. Registering
Event Log
on
Windows
19.1. Setting Parameters
Submit correction
If you see anything in the documentation that is not correct, does not match
your experience with the particular feature or requires further clarification,
please use
this form
to report a documentation issue.