Determining which tables are currently eligible for autovacuum

Often, it is one or two tables in need of vacuuming. Tables whose relfrozenxid value is greater than the number of transactions in autovacuum_freeze_max_age are always targeted by autovacuum. Otherwise, if the number of tuples made obsolete since the last VACUUM exceeds the vacuum threshold, the table is vacuumed.

The autovacuum threshold is defined as:

Vacuum-threshold = vacuum-base-threshold + vacuum-scale-factor * number-of-tuples

where the vacuum base threshold is autovacuum_vacuum_threshold, the vacuum scale factor is autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor, and the number of tuples is pg_class.reltuples.

While you are connected to your database, run the following query to see a list of tables that autovacuum sees as eligible for vacuuming.

WITH vbt AS (SELECT setting AS autovacuum_vacuum_threshold FROM 
pg_settings WHERE name = 'autovacuum_vacuum_threshold'),
vsf AS (SELECT setting AS autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor FROM 
pg_settings WHERE name = 'autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor'), 
fma AS (SELECT setting AS autovacuum_freeze_max_age FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'autovacuum_freeze_max_age'),
sto AS (select opt_oid, split_part(setting, '=', 1) as param,
split_part(setting, '=', 2) as value from (select oid opt_oid, unnest(reloptions) setting from pg_class) opt)
SELECT '"'||ns.nspname||'"."'||c.relname||'"' as relation,
pg_size_pretty(pg_table_size(c.oid)) as table_size,
age(relfrozenxid) as xid_age,
coalesce(cfma.value::float, autovacuum_freeze_max_age::float) autovacuum_freeze_max_age,
(coalesce(cvbt.value::float, autovacuum_vacuum_threshold::float) +
coalesce(cvsf.value::float,autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor::float) * c.reltuples)
AS autovacuum_vacuum_tuples, n_dead_tup as dead_tuples FROM
pg_class c join pg_namespace ns on ns.oid = c.relnamespace 
join pg_stat_all_tables stat on stat.relid = c.oid join vbt on (1=1) join vsf on (1=1) join fma on (1=1)
left join sto cvbt on cvbt.param = 'autovacuum_vacuum_threshold' and c.oid = cvbt.opt_oid 
left join sto cvsf on cvsf.param = 'autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor' and c.oid = cvsf.opt_oid
left join sto cfma on cfma.param = 'autovacuum_freeze_max_age' and c.oid = cfma.opt_oid
WHERE c.relkind = 'r' and nspname <> 'pg_catalog'
AND (age(relfrozenxid) >= coalesce(cfma.value::float, autovacuum_freeze_max_age::float)
OR coalesce(cvbt.value::float, autovacuum_vacuum_threshold::float) + 
coalesce(cvsf.value::float,autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor::float) * 
c.reltuples <= n_dead_tup)
ORDER BY age(relfrozenxid) DESC LIMIT 50;