pg_autoctl create postgres

pg_autoctl create postgres - Initialize a pg_auto_failover postgres node

Synopsis

The command pg_autoctl create postgres initializes a standalone Postgres node to a pg_auto_failover monitor. The monitor is then handling auto-failover for this Postgres node (as soon as a secondary has been registered too, and is known to be healthy).

usage: pg_autoctl create postgres

  --pgctl           path to pg_ctl
  --pgdata          path to data directory
  --pghost          PostgreSQL's hostname
  --pgport          PostgreSQL's port number
  --listen          PostgreSQL's listen_addresses
  --username        PostgreSQL's username
  --dbname          PostgreSQL's database name
  --name            pg_auto_failover node name
  --hostname        hostname used to connect from the other nodes
  --formation       pg_auto_failover formation
  --monitor         pg_auto_failover Monitor Postgres URL
  --auth            authentication method for connections from monitor
  --skip-pg-hba     skip editing pg_hba.conf rules
  --pg-hba-lan      edit pg_hba.conf rules for --dbname in detected LAN
  --ssl-self-signed setup network encryption using self signed certificates (does NOT protect against MITM)
  --ssl-mode        use that sslmode in connection strings
  --ssl-ca-file     set the Postgres ssl_ca_file to that file path
  --ssl-crl-file    set the Postgres ssl_crl_file to that file path
  --no-ssl          don't enable network encryption (NOT recommended, prefer --ssl-self-signed)
  --server-key      set the Postgres ssl_key_file to that file path
  --server-cert     set the Postgres ssl_cert_file to that file path
  --candidate-priority    priority of the node to be promoted to become primary
  --replication-quorum    true if node participates in write quorum
  --maximum-backup-rate   maximum transfer rate of data transferred from the server during initial sync

Description

Three different modes of initialization are supported by this command, corresponding to as many implementation strategies.

1. Initialize a primary node from scratch

   This happens when --pgdata (or the environment variable PGDATA) points to an non-existing or empty directory. Then the given --hostname is registered to the pg_auto_failover --monitor as a member of the --formation.

   The monitor answers to the registration call with a state to assign to the new member of the group, either SINGLE or WAIT_STANDBY. When the assigned state is SINGLE, then pg_autoctl create postgres proceeds to initialize a new PostgreSQL instance.

2. Initialize an already existing primary server

   This happens when --pgdata (or the environment variable PGDATA) points to an already existing directory that belongs to a PostgreSQL instance. The standard PostgreSQL tool pg_controldata is used to recognize whether the directory belongs to a PostgreSQL instance.

   In that case, the given --hostname is registered to the monitor in the tentative SINGLE state. When the given --formation and --group is currently empty, then the monitor accepts the registration and the pg_autoctl create prepares the already existing primary server for pg_auto_failover.

3. Initialize a secondary node from scratch

   This happens when --pgdata (or the environment variable PGDATA) points to a non-existing or empty directory, and when the monitor registration call assigns the state WAIT_STANDBY in step 1.

   In that case, the pg_autoctl create command steps through the initial states of registering a secondary server, which includes preparing the primary server PostgreSQL HBA rules and creating a replication slot.

   When the command ends successfully, a PostgreSQL secondary server has been created with pg_basebackup and is now started, catching-up to the primary server.

4. Initialize a secondary node from an existing data directory

   When the data directory pointed to by the option --pgdata or the environment variable PGDATA already exists, then pg_auto_failover verifies that the system identifier matches the one of the other nodes already existing in the same group.

   The system identifier can be obtained with the command pg_controldata. All nodes in a physical replication setting must have the same system identifier, and so in pg_auto_failover all the nodes in a same group have that constraint too.

   When the system identifier matches the already registered system identifier of other nodes in the same group, then the node is set-up as a standby and Postgres is started with the primary conninfo pointed at the current primary.

The --auth option allows setting up authentication method to be used when monitor node makes a connection to data node with pgautofailover_monitor user. As with the pg_autoctl create monitor command, you could use --auth trust when playing with pg_auto_failover at first and consider something production grade later. Also, consider using --skip-pg-hba if you already have your own provisioning tools with a security compliance process.

See Security settings for pg_auto_failover for notes on .pgpass

Options

The following options are available to pg_autoctl create postgres:

--pgctl

Path to the pg_ctl tool to use for the version of PostgreSQL you want to use.

Defaults to the pg_ctl found in the PATH when there is a single entry for pg_ctl in the PATH. Check your setup using which -a pg_ctl.

When using an RPM based distribution such as RHEL or CentOS, the path would usually be /usr/pgsql-13/bin/pg_ctl for Postgres 13.

When using a debian based distribution such as debian or ubuntu, the path would usually be /usr/lib/postgresql/13/bin/pg_ctl for Postgres 13. Those distributions also use the package postgresql-common which provides /usr/bin/pg_config. This tool can be automatically used by pg_autoctl to discover the default version of Postgres to use on your setup.

--pgdata

Location where to initialize a Postgres database cluster, using either pg_ctl initdb or pg_basebackup. Defaults to the environment variable PGDATA.

--pghost

Hostname to use when connecting to the local Postgres instance from the pg_autoctl process. By default, this field is left blank in the connection string, allowing to use Unix Domain Sockets with the default path compiled in your libpq version, usually provided by the Operating System. That would be /var/run/postgresql when using debian or ubuntu.

--pgport

Postgres port to use, defaults to 5432.

--listen

PostgreSQL’s listen_addresses to setup. At the moment only one address is supported in this command line option.

--username

PostgreSQL’s username to use when connecting to the local Postgres instance to manage it.

--dbname

PostgreSQL’s database name to use in your application. Defaults to being the same as the --username, or to postgres when none of those options are used.

--name

Node name used on the monitor to refer to this node. The hostname is a technical information, and given Postgres requirements on the HBA setup and DNS resolution (both forward and reverse lookups), IP addresses are often used for the hostname.

The --name option allows using a user-friendly name for your Postgres nodes.

--hostname

Hostname or IP address (both v4 and v6 are supported) to use from any other node to connect to this node.

When not provided, a default value is computed by running the following algorithm.

1. We get this machine’s “public IP” by opening a connection to the given monitor hostname or IP address. Then we get TCP/IP client address that has been used to make that connection.

2. We then do a reverse DNS lookup on the IP address found in the previous step to fetch a hostname for our local machine.

3. If the reverse DNS lookup is successful , then pg_autoctl does a forward DNS lookup of that hostname.

When the forward DNS lookup response in step 3. is an IP address found in one of our local network interfaces, then pg_autoctl uses the hostname found in step 2. as the default --hostname. Otherwise it uses the IP address found in step 1.

You may use the --hostname command line option to bypass the whole DNS lookup based process and force the local node name to a fixed value.

--formation

Formation to register the node into on the monitor. Defaults to the default formation, that is automatically created in the monitor in the pg_autoctl create monitor command.

--monitor

Postgres URI used to connect to the monitor. Must use the autoctl_node username and target the pg_auto_failover database name. It is possible to show the Postgres URI from the monitor node using the command pg_autoctl show uri.

--auth

Authentication method used by pg_autoctl when editing the Postgres HBA file to open connections to other nodes. No default value, must be provided by the user. The value --trust is only a good choice for testing and evaluation of pg_auto_failover, see Security settings for pg_auto_failover for more information.

--skip-pg-hba

When this option is used then pg_autoctl refrains from any editing of the Postgres HBA file. Please note that editing the HBA file is still needed so that other nodes can connect using either read privileges or replication streaming privileges.

When --skip-pg-hba is used, pg_autoctl still outputs the HBA entries it needs in the logs, it only skips editing the HBA file.

--pg-hba-lan

When this option is used pg_autoctl determines the local IP address used to connect to the monitor, and retrieves its netmask, and uses that to compute your local area network CIDR. This CIDR is then opened for connections in the Postgres HBA rules.

For instance, when the monitor resolves to 192.168.0.1 and your local Postgres node uses an inferface with IP address 192.168.0.2/255.255.255.0 to connect to the monitor, then the LAN CIDR is computed to be 192.168.0.0/24.

--candidate-priority

Sets this node replication setting for candidate priority to the given value (between 0 and 100) at node registration on the monitor. Defaults to 50.

--replication-quorum

Sets this node replication setting for replication quorum to the given value (either true or false) at node registration on the monitor. Defaults to true, which enables synchronous replication.

--maximum-backup-rate

Sets the maximum transfer rate of data transferred from the server during initial sync. This is used by pg_basebackup. Defaults to 100M.

--run

Immediately run the pg_autoctl service after having created this node.

--ssl-self-signed

Generate SSL self-signed certificates to provide network encryption. This does not protect against man-in-the-middle kinds of attacks. See Security settings for pg_auto_failover for more about our SSL settings.

--ssl-mode

SSL Mode used by pg_autoctl when connecting to other nodes, including when connecting for streaming replication.

--ssl-ca-file

Set the Postgres ssl_ca_file to that file path.

--ssl-crl-file

Set the Postgres ssl_crl_file to that file path.

--no-ssl

Don’t enable network encryption. This is not recommended, prefer --ssl-self-signed.

--server-key

Set the Postgres ssl_key_file to that file path.

--server-cert

Set the Postgres ssl_cert_file to that file path.

Environment

PGDATA

Postgres directory location. Can be used instead of the --pgdata option.

PG_AUTOCTL_MONITOR

Postgres URI to connect to the monitor node, can be used instead of the --monitor option.

PG_AUTOCTL_NODE_NAME

Node name to register to the monitor, can be used instead of the --name option.

PG_AUTOCTL_REPLICATION_QUORUM

Can be used instead of the --replication-quorum option.

PG_AUTOCTL_CANDIDATE_PRIORITY

Can be used instead of the --candidate-priority option.

PG_CONFIG

Can be set to the absolute path to the pg_config Postgres tool. This is mostly used in the context of building extensions, though it can be a useful way to select a Postgres version when several are installed on the same system.

PATH

Used the usual way mostly. Some entries that are searched in the PATH by the pg_autoctl command are expected to be found only once, to avoid mistakes with Postgres major versions.

PGHOST, PGPORT, PGDATABASE, PGUSER, PGCONNECT_TIMEOUT, …

See the Postgres docs about Environment Variables for details.

TMPDIR

The pgcopydb command creates all its work files and directories in ${TMPDIR}/pgcopydb, and defaults to /tmp/pgcopydb.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME

The pg_autoctl command stores its configuration files in the standard place XDG_CONFIG_HOME. See the XDG Base Directory Specification.

XDG_DATA_HOME

The pg_autoctl command stores its internal states files in the standard place XDG_DATA_HOME, which defaults to ~/.local/share. See the XDG Base Directory Specification.