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Support #697

Updated by Daniel Curtis about 9 years ago

This is a guide for setting up pgpool2 to handle a pool of postgresql databases on Debian 8. 

 h2. Prepare the Environment 

 * Make sure the system is up to date: 
 <pre> 
 apt-get update && apt-get upgrade 
 </pre> 

 h2. Install Pgpool2 

 * Install pgpool2: 
 <pre> 
 apt-get install postgresql postgresql-9.4-pgpool2 rsync ssh sudo pgpool2 
 </pre> 

 * Edit pg_hba.conf to enable database access via the local socket: 
 <pre> 
 nano /etc/postgresql/9.4/main/pg_hba.conf 
 </pre> 
 #* Replace peer with trust 
 <pre> 
 local     all           all                                 trust   
 </pre>  

 * Edit the main postgresql config: 
 <pre> 
 nano /etc/postgresql/9.4/main/postgresql.conf 
 </pre> 
 #* And change the listen_addresses parameter: 
 <pre> 
 listen_addresses = '*' 

 max_wal_senders = 1 
 wal_level = hot_standby 
 archive_mode = on 
 archive_command = 'test ! -f /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/archive_log/backup_in_progress || (test -f /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/archive_log/%f || cp %p /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/archive_log/%f)' 
 </pre> 

 * Install the archive_log command: 
 <pre> 
 install -o postgres -g postgres -m 700 -d /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/archive_log 
 </pre> 

 * Restart postgresql: 
 <pre> 
 systemctl restart postgresql 
 </pre> 

 * Log into the postgres database as the admin: 
 <pre> 
 su - postgres -c 'psql template1' 
 </pre> 
 #* And create the pgpool_recovery extension: 
 <pre> 
 CREATE EXTENSION "pgpool_recovery" 
 \q 
 exit 
 </pre> 

 * Setup local passwordless login for the postgres user 
 <pre> 
 su - postgres 
 ssh-keygen -f /var/lib/postgresql/.ssh/id_rsa -N '' 
 cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub >> .ssh/authorized_keys 
 exit 
 </pre> 

 * Setup access remote databases with pg_basebackup non-interactively by creating a password file: 
 <pre> 
 su - postgres 
 echo '*:*:*:postgres:SuperSecretPassword' > .pgpass 
 chmod 0600 .pgpass 
 exit 
 </pre> 

 * Allow the postgres user to restart postgresql without a password: 
 <pre> 
 echo 'postgres ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:/bin/systemctl start postgresql.service' >> /etc/sudoers.d/pgpool-postgres 
 echo 'postgres ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD:/bin/systemctl stop postgresql.service' >> /etc/sudoers.d/pgpool-postgres 
 </pre> 

 * Edit pg_hba.conf to enable database access via the local socket: 
 <pre> 
 nano /etc/postgresql/9.4/main/pg_hba.conf 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the postgres user replication access using md5 authentication: 
 <pre> 
 local     all               all                                 trust   
 host      replication       postgres       .example.com           md5 
 </pre>  

 * After enabling password-based authentication, we need to set a password for the postgres user which we’ll use for making the base backup: 
 <pre> 
 su postgres -c psql 
 echo "ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'SuperSecretPassword';" 
 </pre> 

 h3. Configure Pgpool2 

 * Create a pgpool2 config from the installed examples: 
 <pre> 
 gunzip -c /usr/share/doc/pgpool2/examples/pgpool.conf.sample-replication.gz > /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 

 * Set a password for the pcp admin user: 
 <pre> 
 echo "postgres:$(pg_md5 SuperSecretPassword)" >> /etc/pgpool2/pcp.conf 
 </pre> 

 * In replication mode, when the client should authenticate towards the PostgreSQL database, configure pgpool2 to use password-based authentication: 
 <pre> 
 sed -i 's/trust$/md5/g' /etc/pgpool2/pool_hba.conf 
 sed -i 's/\(enable_pool_hba =\) off/\1 on/g' /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 

 * Create all the usernames and passwords that will be used to connect to pgpool2: 
 <pre> 
 touch pool_passwd 
 chown postgres.postgres pool_passwd 
 pg_md5 -m -u pg2user SuperSecretPg2Password 
 </pre> 

 * My use case has servers on separate networks, so it is advisable to turn off load_balance_mode, otherwise queries will be sent to all healthy backends. In addition, a higher weight will be assigned to the backend which is on the same machine as pgpool2, so read-only queries are sent to the local backend only. 
 <pre> 
 sed -i 's/^load_balance_mode = on/load_balance_mode = off/g' /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 

 * Comment out any currently defined backends: 
 <pre> 
 sed -i 's/^\(backend_\)/# \1/g' /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 

 * Edit the pgpool2 config file: 
 <pre> 
 nano /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following to the end of the config file to define the *pg1.example.com* backend host: 
 <pre> 
 backend_hostname0 = 'pg1.example.com' 
 backend_port0 = 5432 
 backend_weight0 = 2 
 backend_data_directory0 = '/var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main' 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following to the end of the config file to define the *pg2.example.com* backend host: 
 <pre> 
 backend_hostname1 = 'pg2.example.com' 
 backend_port1 = 5432 
 backend_weight1 = 1 
 backend_data_directory1 = '/var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main' 
 </pre> 

 h3. Configuring recovery 

 * Define a couple of shell scripts that handle the details of how the recovery is performed: 
 <pre> 
 sed -i 's/^\(recovery_\|client_idle_limit_in_recovery\)/# \1/g' /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 

 * Edit the pgpool2 config: 
 <pre> 
 nano /etc/pgpool2/pgpool.conf 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following: 
 <pre> 
 recovery_user = 'postgres' 
 recovery_password = 'SuperSecretPassword' 

 recovery_1st_stage_command = '1st_stage.sh' 
 recovery_2nd_stage_command = '2nd_stage.sh' 

 client_idle_limit_in_recovery = -1 
 </pre> 

 * The 1st_stage.sh script logs into the backend that should be recovered and uses pg_basebackup to copy a full backup from the master(primary) backend. It also sets up the recovery.conf which will be used by PostgreSQL when starting up: 
 <pre> 
 nano /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/1st_stage.sh 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following: 
 <pre> 
 #!/bin/sh 
 TS=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S) 
 MASTER_HOST=$(hostname -f) 
 MASTER_DATA=$1 
 RECOVERY_TARGET=$2 
 RECOVERY_DATA=$3 

 # Move the PostgreSQL data directory out of our way. 
 ssh -T $RECOVERY_TARGET \ 
     "[ -d $RECOVERY_DATA ] && mv $RECOVERY_DATA $RECOVERY_DATA.$TS" 

 # We only use archived WAL logs during recoveries, so delete all 
 # logs from the last recovery to limit the growth. 
 rm $MASTER_DATA/archive_log/* 

 # With this file present, our archive_command will actually 
 # archive WAL files. 
 touch $MASTER_DATA/archive_log/backup_in_progress 

 # Perform a backup of the database. 
 ssh -T $RECOVERY_TARGET \ 
     "pg_basebackup -h $MASTER_HOST -D $RECOVERY_DATA --xlog" 

 # Configure the restore_command to use the archive_log WALs we’ll copy 
 # over in 2nd_stage.sh. 
 echo "restore_command = 'cp $RECOVERY_DATA/archive_log/%f %p'" | \ 
     ssh -T $RECOVERY_TARGET "cat > $RECOVERY_DATA/recovery.conf" 
 </pre> 

 * Create the 2nd_stage.sh script: 
 <pre> 
 nano /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/2nd_stage.sh 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following: 
 <pre> 
 #! /bin/sh 
 MASTER_DATA=$1 
 RECOVERY_TARGET=$2 
 RECOVERY_DATA=$3 
 port=5432 

 # Force to flush current value of sequences to xlog 
 psql -p $port -t -c 'SELECT datname FROM pg_database WHERE NOT datistemplate AND datallowconn' template1| 
 while read i 
 do 
   if [ "$i" != "" ];then 
     psql -p $port -c "SELECT setval(oid, nextval(oid)) FROM pg_class WHERE relkind = 'S'" $i 
   fi 
 done 

 # Flush all transactions to disk. Since pgpool stopped all connections, 
 # there cannot be any data that does not reside on disk until the 
 # to-be-recovered host is back on line. 
 psql -p $port -c "SELECT pgpool_switch_xlog('$MASTER_DATA/archive_log')" template1 

 # Copy over all archive logs at once. 
 rsync -avx --delete $MASTER_DATA/archive_log/ \ 
     $RECOVERY_TARGET:$RECOVERY_DATA/archive_log/ 

 # Delete the flag file to disable WAL archiving again. 
 rm $MASTER_DATA/archive_log/backup_in_progress 
 </pre> 

 * Also create a pgpool_remote_start script: 
 <pre> 
 nano /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/pgpool_remote_start 
 </pre> 
 #* And add the following: 
 <pre> 
 #!/bin/sh 
 ssh $1 sudo systemctl start postgresql.service 
 </pre> 

 * Make the scripts executable: 
 <pre> 
 chmod +x /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/1st_stage.sh 
 chmod +x /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/2nd_stage.sh 
 chmod +x /var/lib/postgresql/9.4/main/pgpool_remote_start 
 </pre> 

 * Now start pgpool2 and verify that it works and can access the first node. The pcp_node_count command should return an integer number like “2”. The psql command should be able to connect and you should see your database tables when using \d. 
 <pre> 
 systemctl restart pgpool2.service 
 pcp_node_count 10 localhost 9898 postgres SuperSecretPassword 
 psql -p 5433 -U pg2user pg2db 
 </pre> 

 h2. Resources 

 * http://michael.stapelberg.de/Artikel/replicated_postgresql_with_pgpool/ 
 * http://www.pgpool.net/docs/latest/pgpool-en.html 
 * http://cloud-engineering.forthscale.com/2013/03/how-to-install-pgpool-ii-on-postgresql.html 
 * http://www.keyup.eu/en/blog/89-replication-and-load-balancing-with-postgresql-and-pgpool2

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