the configuration that comes out-of-the-box actually is correct in a sense that it works. shared_buffers is low enough so that kernel.shmmax and kernel.shmall d

the configuration that comes out-of-the-box actually is correct in a sense that it works. shared_buffers is low enough so that kernel.shmmax and kernel.shmall don't need to be changed. Of course that means that there isn't enough shared memory available to achieve maximum performance, but chances are that you don't need to worry about that while you are still a beginner. Later, when the amount of data grows, then it's time to learn about that stuff and this is when you will change shared_buffers - and the kernel resources with it. Agreed about the other stuff, though it has pg_-tables, not databases. And having database metadata exposed in database tables is quite the common case and has indeed been made into a standard, though not in the form of pg_* but in form of the information_schema (though pg_* still expose a lot of additional information)