The following bug has been logged online: Bug reference: 5055 Logged by: john martin Email address: postgres_...@live.com PostgreSQL version: 8.3.6 Operating system: Centos 5.2 32 bit Description: Invalid page header error Details:
All of a sudden we started seeing page header errors in certain queries. The messages are in the form of "ERROR: invalid page header in block xxxx of relation xxxx". The query fails. I found may previous messages in the archives. Most, if not all, replies seemed to indicate hardware errors. I have run all the disk/memory tests like fsync and memtest86 but nothing was found. I have also rebooted is multiple times . I found an unsatisfactory work around that causes, ahem, data loss. We went ahead with it anyway fortunately because the error happened in our dev environment. IOW, we could tolerate the data loss. The work around consists of adding the following parameter to postgresql.conf and restarting postgres. "zero_damaged_pages=TRUE" We no longer see the error messages with the above work around. Needless to say, the work around cannot be used in production. But the database is running on the SAME HARDWARE. Is it possible that it is a postgres bug? I found the issue reported 5 years back to my surprise. http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2004-09/msg00869.php I am urging the community to investigate the possibility that it may not be hardware related, especially since it was first reported at least 5 years back. Or may be you have decided not to fix if the number of people reporting is very less. I have a very good opinion of postgres quality. While I am not 100% sure it is a bug (only circumstantial evidence), I do think it improves the product quality to fix an annoying old bug. -- Sent via pgsql-bugs mailing list (pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-bugs