pgtune
Starting with PostgreSQL 8.4, the pgtune program available from http://pgfoundry.org/projects/pgtune/ can be used to create an initial postgresql.conf
file for a new server. It allows you to suggest what the intended type of workload is, ranging from a dedicated data warehouse server down to a developer workstation. Based on that input and system parameters like the amount of RAM in the server, it produces a tuned configuration for the major system parameters following similar methods to those described in this chapter. This is not going to be as accurate as following the guidelines for a dedicated server and measuring everything yourself, but it will get you up and running with a configuration that's in the right general size very quickly. Any reasonably sized postgresql.conf
should easily outperform the default one, as that's optimized only for low shared memory use.