pg_standby + test_warm_standby: A Community Report

["Thomas F. O'Connell" <tf(at)o(dot)ptimized(dot)com>]

After being asked to implement a warm standby server, I was pleased to happen upon Simon's pg_standby contribution. I was even more pleased to discover that it was designed to be compatible with the 8.2.x releases despite not being officially released until 8.3. I was then even more pleased to discover that Simon had helpfully provided a test harness for pg_standby, which is still available at the link referenced in this thread [note that pg_standby itself should probably be obtained from CVS at this point rather than from the thread referenced here]:

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2006-12/msg00085.php

I had to tweak a few things to get the test harness functioning smoothly under Solaris 10 for x86, but once I did, pg_standby seemed fully up to the task of operating a warm standby server in a controlled environment.

Specifically, I had to:

* alter the hardcoded locale settings (e.g., the lc_ parameters in the supplied .conf files) from en_GB.UTF-8.

* avoid the use of the $PWD/.. syntax in archive_command and recovery_command. (I'm not sure whether this was just a shell environment issue or what.)

* change the deprecated -m option (for moving archived files) in restore_command in the supplied recovery.conf to -c

I've since tested pg_standby in a two-server primary/standby simple failover/recovery scenario, and everything worked smoothly.

All testing was conducted using postgres 8.2.3 on Solaris 10 for x86.

I still need to test restartable recovery and incrementable backups, but I'd like to say thanks to Simon and the whole PostgreSQL Global Development Group for a fine product and a robust community.

--

Thomas F. O'Connell

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