Parameter · Preset Options

huge_pages_status

Indicates the status of huge pages.

Default: unknown
Type: enum
Values: off · on · unknown
Applies: Read-only

In plain words

With huge_pages = try PostgreSQL silently falls back to normal pages if huge pages are not available. This read-only setting tells you what really happened at startup.

For DBAs and operators

Added in PostgreSQL 17. Values: on (main shared memory uses huge pages), off (it does not), unknown (only seen with postgres -C huge_pages_status before the server has allocated memory). Use it after every restart if you rely on huge pages, because try never logs an error on fallback.

SHOW huge_pages;              -- what you asked for
SHOW huge_pages_status;       -- what you got
SHOW shared_memory_size_in_huge_pages;   -- what you need to reserve
grep -i huge /proc/meminfo    -- HugePages_Total / Free / Rsvd

How to change it

Fixed when PostgreSQL was built or the cluster was initialised. You can only read it.

See it in context

Memory architecture Shared buffers

Related parameters

huge_pages shared_memory_size_in_huge_pages huge_page_size

All Preset Options parameters