<varlistentry id="guc-backend-flush-after" xreflabel="backend_flush_after">

<term><varname>backend_flush_after</varname> (<type>integer</type>)

<indexterm>

<primary><varname>backend_flush_after</varname> configuration parameter</primary>

</indexterm>

</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Whenever more than this amount of data has

been written by a single backend, attempt to force the OS to issue

these writes to the underlying storage. Doing so will limit the

amount of dirty data in the kernel's page cache, reducing the

likelihood of stalls when an <function>fsync</function> is issued at the end of a

checkpoint, or when the OS writes data back in larger batches in the

background. Often that will result in greatly reduced transaction

latency, but there also are some cases, especially with workloads

that are bigger than <xref linkend="guc-shared-buffers"/>, but smaller

than the OS's page cache, where performance might degrade. This

setting may have no effect on some platforms.

If this value is specified without units, it is taken as blocks,

that is <symbol>BLCKSZ</symbol> bytes, typically 8kB.

The valid range is

between <literal>0</literal>, which disables forced writeback,

and <literal>2MB</literal>. The default is <literal>0</literal>, i.e., no

forced writeback. (If <symbol>BLCKSZ</symbol> is not 8kB,

the maximum value scales proportionally to it.)

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="guc-parallel-leader-participation" xreflabel="parallel_leader_participation">

<term>

<varname>parallel_leader_participation</varname> (<type>boolean</type>)

<primary><varname>parallel_leader_participation</varname> configuration parameter</primary>

Allows the leader process to execute the query plan under

<literal>Gather</literal> and <literal>Gather Merge</literal> nodes

instead of waiting for worker processes. The default is

<literal>on</literal>. Setting this value to <literal>off</literal>

reduces the likelihood that workers will become blocked because the

leader is not reading tuples fast enough, but requires the leader

process to wait for worker processes to start up before the first

tuples can be produced. The degree to which the leader can help or

hinder performance depends on the plan type, number of workers and

query duration.