PostgreSQL 9 High Availability Cookbook

Picking a processor

In selecting a CPU for our server, we have a lot to consider. At the time of this writing, the current trend among processors in every space—including mobile—is toward multiple cores per chip. CPU manufacturers have found that providing a large number of smaller processing units spreads workload horizontally for better overall scalability.

As users of PostgreSQL, this benefits us tremendously. PostgreSQL is based on processes instead of threads. This means each connected client is assigned to a process that can use a CPU core when available. The host operating system can perform such allocations without any input from the database software. Motherboards have limited space, so we need more cores on the same limited real estate, ...