POSTGRESQL error Could not create shared memory segment: Cannot allocate memory

Recently my client database has restarted and thrown the below error.

FATAL:  could not create shared memory segment: Cannot allocate memory
DETAIL:  Failed system call was shmget(key=5433001, size=5616156672, 03600).
HINT:  This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request for a shared memory segment
       exceeded available memory or swap space, or exceeded your kernel's SHMALL
       parameter. You can either reduce the request size or reconfigure the kernel with
       larger SHMALL. To reduce the request size (currently 5616156672 bytes), reduce
       PostgreSQL's shared memory usage, perhaps by reducing shared_buffers or
       max_connections.
The PostgreSQL documentation contains more information about shared memory configuration.
LOG:  database system was interrupted; last known up at 2017-06-07 08:10:13 BST
FATAL:  the database system is starting up
FATAL:  the database system is starting up

How can I resolve this issue?

The HINT seems pretty clear,


This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request for a shared memory segment exceeded available memory or swap space, or exceeded your kernel's SHMALL parameter. You can either reduce the request size or reconfigure the kernel with larger SHMALL. To reduce the request size (currently 5616156672 bytes), reduce PostgreSQL's shared memory usage, perhaps by reducing shared_buffers or max_connections.

Redhat has really good docs on SHMALL. The sysctl method is the new method.

sysctl -w kernel.shmall=5616156672

See man sysctl. These changes do not persist through reboot. Pay attention to the bottom, to make the change permanent,

echo "kernel.shmall=5616156672" >> /etc/sysctl.conf

Also note the top which is great generic advice This parameter sets the total amount of shared memory pages that can be used system wide. Hence, SHMALL should always be at least ceil(shmmax/PAGE_SIZE).

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#176137, answer score: 3