20.9. Run-time Statistics

Enables the collection of information on the currently executing command of each session, along with its identifier and the time when that command began execution. This parameter is on by default. Note that even when enabled, this information is not visible to all users, only to superusers and the user owning the session being reported on, so it should not represent a security risk. Only superusers can change this setting.

Specifies the amount of memory reserved to store the text of the currently executing command for each active session, for the pg_stat_activity . query field. If this value is specified without units, it is taken as bytes. The default value is 1024 bytes. This parameter can only be set at server start.

Enables collection of statistics on database activity. This parameter is on by default, because the autovacuum daemon needs the collected information. Only superusers can change this setting.

Enables timing of database I/O calls. This parameter is off by default, as it will repeatedly query the operating system for the current time, which may cause significant overhead on some platforms. You can use the pg_test_timing tool to measure the overhead of timing on your system. I/O timing information is displayed in pg_stat_database , in the output of EXPLAIN when the BUFFERS option is used, by autovacuum for auto-vacuums and auto-analyzes, when log_autovacuum_min_duration is set and by pg_stat_statements . Only superusers can change this setting.

Enables timing of WAL I/O calls. This parameter is off by default, as it will repeatedly query the operating system for the current time, which may cause significant overhead on some platforms. You can use the pg_test_timing tool to measure the overhead of timing on your system. I/O timing information is displayed in pg_stat_wal . Only superusers can change this setting.

Enables tracking of function call counts and time used. Specify pl to track only procedural-language functions, all to also track SQL and C language functions. The default is none , which disables function statistics tracking. Only superusers can change this setting.

Sets the directory to store temporary statistics data in. This can be a path relative to the data directory or an absolute path. The default is pg_stat_tmp . Pointing this at a RAM-based file system will decrease physical I/O requirements and can lead to improved performance. This parameter can only be set in the postgresql.conf file or on the server command line.

Enables in-core computation of a query identifier. Query identifiers can be displayed in the pg_stat_activity view, using EXPLAIN , or emitted in the log if configured via the log_line_prefix parameter. The pg_stat_statements extension also requires a query identifier to be computed. Note that an external module can alternatively be used if the in-core query identifier computation method is not acceptable. In this case, in-core computation must be always disabled. Valid values are off (always disabled), on (always enabled) and auto , which lets modules such as pg_stat_statements automatically enable it. The default is auto .

For each query, output performance statistics of the respective module to the server log. This is a crude profiling instrument, similar to the Unix getrusage() operating system facility. log_statement_stats reports total statement statistics, while the others report per-module statistics. log_statement_stats cannot be enabled together with any of the per-module options. All of these options are disabled by default. Only superusers can change these settings.