PGD settings v5

You can also set PGD-specific configuration settings. Unless noted otherwise, you can set the values at any time.

Conflict handling

`bdr.default_conflict_detection`

Sets the default conflict detection method for newly created tables. Accepts same values as bdr.alter_table_conflict_detection().

Global sequence parameters

`bdr.default_sequence_kind`

Sets the default sequence kind.

The default value is distributed, which means snowflakeid is used for int8 sequences (i.e., bigserial) and galloc sequence for int4 (i.e., serial) and int2 sequences.

DDL handling

`bdr.default_replica_identity`

Sets the default value for REPLICA IDENTITY on newly created tables. The REPLICA IDENTITY defines the information written to the write-ahead log to identify rows that are updated or deleted.

The accepted values are:

default — Records the old values of the columns of the primary key, if any (this is the default PostgreSQL behavior).
full — Records the old values of all columns in the row.
nothing — Records no information about the old row.
auto — Tables with PK are created with REPLICA IDENTITY DEFAULT, and tables without PK are created with REPLICA IDENTITY FULL. This is the default PGD behavior.

See PostgreSQL documentation for more details.

PGD can't replicate UPDATE and DELETE operations on tables without a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint. The exception is when the replica identity for the table is FULL, either by table-specific configuration or by bdr.default_replica_identity.

If bdr.default_replica_identity is default and there is a UNIQUE constraint on the table, it isn't automatically picked up as REPLICA IDENTITY. You need to set it explicitly when creating the table or after, as described above.

Setting the replica identity of tables to full increases the volume of WAL written and the amount of data replicated on the wire for the table.

On setting bdr.default_replica_identity to default

When setting bdr.default_replica_identity to default using ALTER SYSTEM, always quote the value, like this:

ALTER SYSTEM SET bdr.default_replica_identity="default";

You need to include the quotes because default, unquoted, is a special value to the ALTER SYSTEM command that triggers the removal of the setting from the configuration file. When the setting is removed, the system uses the PGD default setting, which is auto.

`bdr.ddl_replication`

Automatically replicate DDL across nodes (default is on).

This parameter can be set only by bdr_superuser or superuser roles.

Running DDL or calling PGD administration functions with bdr.ddl_replication = off can create situations where replication stops until an administrator can intervene. See DDL replication for details.

A LOG-level log message is emitted to the PostgreSQL server logs whenever bdr.ddl_replication is set to off. Additionally, a WARNING-level message is written whenever replication of captured DDL commands or PGD replication functions is skipped due to this setting.

`bdr.role_replication`

Automatically replicate ROLE commands across nodes (default is on). Only a superuser can set this parameter. This setting works only if bdr.ddl_replication is turned on as well.

Turning this off without using external methods to ensure roles are in sync across all nodes might cause replicated DDL to interrupt replication until the administrator intervenes.

See Role manipulation statements for details.

`bdr.ddl_locking`

Configures the operation mode of global locking for DDL.

This parameter can be set only by bdr_superuser or superuser roles.

Possible options are:

all — Use global locking for all DDL operations.
dml — Use global locking only for DDL operations that need to prevent writes by taking the global DML lock for a relation.
off — Don't use global locking for DDL operations.

A LOG-level log message is emitted to the PostgreSQL server logs whenever bdr.ddl_replication is set to off. Additionally, a WARNING message is written whenever any global locking steps are skipped due to this setting. It's normal for some statements to result in two WARNING messages: one for skipping the DML lock and one for skipping the DDL lock.

For backwards compatibility, bdr.ddl_locking supports aliases. on and true are an alias for all. false is an alias for off.

`bdr.truncate_locking`

This configuration option sets the TRUNCATE command's locking behavior. Determines whether (when true) TRUNCATE obeys the bdr.ddl_locking setting. Set to false by default.

Global locking

DDL locking is controlled by bdr.ddl_locking. Other global locking settings include the following:

`bdr.global_lock_max_locks`

Sets the maximum number of global locks that can be held on a node (default 1000). Can be set only at Postgres server start.

`bdr.global_lock_timeout`

Sets the maximum allowed duration of any wait for a global lock (default 10 minutes). A value of zero disables this timeout.

`bdr.global_lock_statement_timeout`

Sets the maximum allowed duration of any statement holding a global lock (default 60 minutes). A value of zero disables this timeout.

`bdr.global_lock_idle_timeout`

Sets the maximum allowed duration of idle time in transaction holding a global lock (default 10 minutes). A value of zero disables this timeout.

`bdr.predictive_checks`

Sets the log level for predictive checks (currently used only by global locks). Can be DEBUG, LOG, WARNING (default), or ERROR. Predictive checks are early validations for expected cluster state when doing certain operations. You can use them for those operations for fail early rather than wait for timeouts. In global lock terms, PGD checks that there are enough nodes connected and withing reasonable lag limit for getting quorum needed by the global lock.

Node management

`bdr.replay_progress_frequency`

Sets the interval for sending replication position info to the rest of the cluster (default 1 minute).

`bdr.standby_slot_names`

Sets the slots required to receive and confirm replication changes before any other ones. This setting is useful primarily when using physical standbys for failover or when using subscribe-only nodes.

Generic replication

`bdr.writers_per_subscription`

Sets the default number of writers per subscription (in PGD, you can also change this with bdr.alter_node_group_config for a group).

`bdr.max_writers_per_subscription`

Maximum number of writers per subscription (sets upper limit for the setting above).

`bdr.xact_replication`

Replicate current transaction (default is on).

Turning this off makes the whole transaction local only, which means the transaction isn't visible to logical decoding by PGD and all other downstream targets of logical decoding. Data isn't transferred to any other node, including logical standby nodes.

This parameter can be set only by the bdr_superuser or superuser roles.

This parameter can be set only inside the current transaction using the SET LOCAL command unless bdr.permit_unsafe_commands = on.

Note

Even with transaction replication disabled, WAL is generated, but those changes are filtered away on the origin.

Warning

Turning off bdr.xact_replication leads to data inconsistency between nodes. Use it only to recover from data divergence between nodes or in replication situations where changes on single nodes are required for replication to continue. Use at your own risk.

`bdr.permit_unsafe_commands`

Option to override safety check on commands that are deemed unsafe for general use.

Requires bdr_superuser or PostgreSQL superuser.

Warning

The commands that are normally not considered safe can either produce inconsistent results or break replication altogether. Use at your own risk.

`bdr.batch_inserts`

Number of consecutive inserts to one table in a single transaction turns on batch processing of inserts for that table.

This setting allows replication of large data loads as COPY internally, rather than set of inserts. It is also how the initial data during node join is copied.

`bdr.maximum_clock_skew`

This setting specifies the maximum difference between the incoming transaction commit timestamp and the current time on the subscriber before triggering bdr.maximum_clock_skew_action.

It checks if the timestamp of the currently replayed transaction is in the future compared to the current time on the subscriber. If it is, and the difference is larger than bdr.maximum_clock_skew, it performs the action specified by the bdr.maximum_clock_skew_action setting.

The default is -1, which means ignore clock skew (the check is turned off). It's valid to set 0 as when the clock on all servers are synchronized. The fact that we are replaying the transaction means it has been committed in the past.

`bdr.maximum_clock_skew_action`

This setting specifies the action to take if a clock skew higher than bdr.maximum_clock_skew is detected.

There are two possible values for this setting:

WARN — Log a warning about this fact. The warnings are logged once per minute (the default) at the maximum to prevent flooding the server log.
WAIT — Wait until the current local timestamp is no longer older than remote commit timestamp minus the bdr.maximum_clock_skew.

`bdr.accept_connections`

This setting enables or disables connections to PGD. Defaults to on.

Requires bdr_superuser or PostgreSQL superuser.

`bdr.standby_slot_names`

This setting is typically used in failover configurations to ensure that the failover-candidate streaming physical replicas for this PGD node have received and flushed all changes before they ever become visible to subscribers. That guarantees that a commit can't vanish on failover to a standby for the provider.

Replication slots whose names are listed in the comma-separated bdr.standby_slot_names list are treated specially by the walsender on a PGD node.

PGD's logical replication walsenders ensures that all local changes are sent and flushed to the replication slots in bdr.standby_slot_names before the node sends those changes to any other PGD replication clients. Effectively, it provides a synchronous replication barrier between the named list of slots and all other replication clients.

Any replication slot can be listed in bdr.standby_slot_names. Both logical and physical slots work, but it's generally used for physical slots.

Without this safeguard, two anomalies are possible where a commit can be received by a subscriber and then vanish from the provider on failover because the failover candidate hadn't received it yet:

For 1+ subscribers, the subscriber might have applied the change but the new provider might execute new transactions that conflict with the received change, as it never happened as far as the provider is concerned.
For 2+ subscribers, at the time of failover, not all subscribers have applied the change. The subscribers now have inconsistent and irreconcilable states because the subscribers that didn't receive the commit have no way to get it.

Setting bdr.standby_slot_names by design causes other subscribers not listed in there to lag behind the provider if the required number of listed nodes are not keeping up. Monitoring is thus essential.

Another use case where bdr.standby_slot_names is useful is when using a subscriber-only node, to ensure that it does not move ahead of any of the regular PGD nodes. This can best be achieved by listing the logical slots of all regular PGD peer nodes in combination with setting bdr.standby_slots_min_confirmed to at least one.

`bdr.standby_slots_min_confirmed`

This setting controls how many of the bdr.standby_slot_names have to confirm before we send data to PGD subscribers.

`bdr.writer_input_queue_size`

This setting specifies the size of the shared memory queue used by the receiver to send data to the writer process. If the writer process is stalled or making slow progress, then the queue might get filled up, stalling the receiver process too. So it's important to provide enough shared memory for this queue. The default is 1 MB, and the maximum allowed size is 1 GB. While any storage size specifier can be used to set the GUC, the default is KB.

`bdr.writer_output_queue_size`

This setting specifies the size of the shared memory queue used by the receiver to receive data from the writer process. Since the writer isn't expected to send a large amount of data, a relatively smaller sized queue is enough. The default is 32 KB, and the maximum allowed size is 1 MB. While any storage size specifier can be used to set the GUC, the default is KB.

`bdr.min_worker_backoff_delay`

This setting allows for rate limiting of PGD background worker launches by preventing a given worker from being relaunched more often than every bdr.min_worker_backoff_delay milliseconds. On repeated errors, the backoff increases exponentially with added jitter up to maximum of bdr.max_worker_backoff_delay.

Time-unit suffixes are supported.

Note

This setting currently affects only receiver worker, which means it primarily affects how fast a subscription tries to reconnect on error or connection failure.

The default for bdr.min_worker_backoff_delay is 1 second. For bdr.max_worker_backoff_delay, it is 1 minute.

If the backoff delay setting is changed and the PostgreSQL configuration is reloaded, then all current backoff waits for reset. Additionally, the bdr.worker_task_reset_backoff_all() function is provided to allow the administrator to force all backoff intervals to immediately expire.

A tracking table in shared memory is maintained to remember the last launch time of each type of worker. This tracking table isn't persistent. It is cleared by PostgreSQL restarts, including soft restarts during crash recovery after an unclean backend exit.

You can use the view bdr.worker_tasks to inspect this state so the administrator can see any backoff rate limiting currently in effect.

For rate limiting purposes, workers are classified by task. This key consists of the worker role, database OID, subscription ID, subscription writer ID, extension library name and function name, extension-supplied worker name, and the remote relation ID for sync writers. NULL is used where a given classifier doesn't apply, for example, manager workers don't have a subscription ID and receivers don't have a writer ID.

CRDTs

`bdr.crdt_raw_value`

Sets the output format of CRDT data types.

The default output (when this setting is off) is to return only the current value of the base CRDT type (for example, a bigint for crdt_pncounter). When set to on, the returned value represents the full representation of the CRDT value, which can, for example, include the state from multiple nodes.

Commit Scope

`bdr.commit_scope`

Sets the current (or default) commit scope (default is an empty string).

Commit At Most Once

`bdr.camo_local_mode_delay`

The commit delay that applies in CAMO's asynchronous mode to emulate the overhead that normally occurs with the CAMO partner having to confirm transactions. Defaults to 5 ms. Set to 0 to disable this feature. -

`bdr.camo_enable_client_warnings`

Emit warnings if an activity is carried out in the database for which CAMO properties can't be guaranteed. This is enabled by default. Well-informed users can choose to disable this to reduce the amount of warnings going into their logs.

Transaction streaming

`bdr.default_streaming_mode`

Used to control transaction streaming by the subscriber node. Permissible values are: off, writer, file, and auto. Defaults to auto. If set to off, the subscriber doesn't request transaction streaming. If set to one of the other values, the subscriber requests transaction streaming and the publisher provides it if it supports them and if configured at group level. For more details, see Transaction streaming.

Lag Control

`bdr.lag_control_max_commit_delay`

Maximum acceptable post commit delay that can be tolerated, in fractional milliseconds.

`bdr.lag_control_max_lag_size`

Maximum acceptable lag size that can be tolerated, in kilobytes.

`bdr.lag_control_max_lag_time`

Maximum acceptable lag time that can be tolerated, in milliseconds.

`bdr.lag_control_min_conforming_nodes`

Minimum number of nodes required to stay below acceptable lag measures.

`bdr.lag_control_commit_delay_adjust`

Commit delay micro adjustment measured as a fraction of the maximum commit delay time. At a default value of 0.01%, it takes 100 net increments to reach the maximum commit delay.

`bdr.lag_control_sample_interval`

Minimum time between lag samples and commit delay micro adjustments, in milliseconds.

`bdr.lag_control_commit_delay_start`

The lag threshold at which commit delay increments start to be applied, expressed as a fraction of acceptable lag measures. At a default value of 1.0%, commit delay increments don't begin until acceptable lag measures are breached.

By setting a smaller fraction, it might be possible to prevent a breach by "bending the lag curve" earlier so that it's asymptotic with the acceptable lag measure.

Timestamp-based snapshots

`bdr.timestamp_snapshot_keep`

Time to keep valid snapshots for the timestamp-based snapshot use (default is 0, meaning don't keep past snapshots).

Monitoring and logging

`bdr.debug_level`

Defines the log level that PGD uses to write its debug messages. The default value is debug2. If you want to see detailed PGD debug output, set bdr.debug_level = 'log'.

`bdr.trace_level`

Similar to the above, this defines the log level to use for PGD trace messages. Enabling tracing on all nodes of a EDB Postgres Distributed cluster might help EDB Support to diagnose issues. You can set this only at Postgres server start.

Warning

Setting bdr.debug_level or bdr.trace_level to a value >= log_min_messages can produce a very large volume of log output, so don't enabled it long term in production unless plans are in place for log filtering, archival, and rotation to prevent disk space exhaustion.

`bdr.track_subscription_apply`

Track apply statistics for each subscription with bdr.stat_subscription.

The default value is on.

`bdr.track_relation_apply`

Track apply statistics for each relation with bdr.stat_relation.

The default value is off.

`bdr.track_apply_lock_timing`

Track lock timing when tracking statistics for relations with bdr.stat_relation.

The default value is off.

Decoding Worker

`bdr.enable_wal_decoder`

Enables logical change record (LCR) sending on a single node with a decoding worker. By default, this setting is false. When set to true, a decoding worker process starts, and WAL senders send the LCRs it produces. If set back to false, any WAL senders using LCR are restarted and use the WAL directly.

Note

You also need to enable this setting on all nodes in the PGD group and set the enable_wal_decoder option to true on the group.

`bdr.receive_lcr`

When subscribing to another node, this setting enables the node to request the use of logical change records (LCRs) for the subscription. By default, this setting is false. When this setting is true on a downstream node, the node requests that upstream nodes use LCRs when sending to it. If you set bdr.enable_wal_decoder to true on a node, also set this setting to true.

Note

You also need to enable this setting on all nodes in the PGD group and set the enable_wal_decoder option to true on the group.

`bdr.lcr_cleanup_interval`

Logical change record (LCR) file cleanup interval. When the decoding worker is enabled, the decoding worker stores LCR files as a buffer. These files are periodically cleaned, and this setting controls the interval between any two consecutive cleanups. The default is 3 minutes. Setting it to zero disables cleanup.

Connectivity settings

The following are a set of connectivity settings affecting all cross-node libpq connections. The defaults are set to fairly conservative values and cover most production needs. All variables have SIGHUP context, meaning changes are applied upon reload.

`bdr.global_connection_timeout`

Maximum time to wait while connecting, in seconds. Write as a decimal integer, for example, 10. Zero, negative, or not specified means wait indefinitely. The minimum allowed timeout is 2 seconds, therefore a value of 1 is interpreted as 2.

The default is 15 seconds.

`bdr.global_keepalives`

Controls whether TCP keepalives are used. The default value is 1, meaning on. If you don't want keepalives, you can change this to 0, meaning off. This parameter is ignored for connections made by a Unix-domain socket.

The default is 1 (on).

`bdr.global_keepalives_idle`

Controls the number of seconds of inactivity after which TCP sends a keepalive message to the server. A value of zero uses the system default. This parameter is ignored for connections made by a Unix-domain socket or if keepalives are disabled. It's supported only on systems where TCP_KEEPIDLE or an equivalent socket option is available. On other systems, it has no effect.

The default is 1 second.

`bdr.global_keepalives_interval`

Controls the number of seconds after which to retransmit a TCP keepalive message that isn't acknowledged by the server. A value of zero uses the system default. This parameter is ignored for connections made by a Unix-domain socket or if keepalives are disabled. It's supported only on systems where TCP_KEEPINTVL or an equivalent socket option is available. On other systems, it has no effect.

The default is 2 seconds.

`bdr.global_keepalives_count`

Controls the number of TCP keepalives that can be lost before the client's connection to the server is considered dead. A value of zero uses the system default. This parameter is ignored for connections made by a Unix-domain socket or if keepalives are disabled. It's supported only on systems where TCP_KEEPCNT or an equivalent socket option is available. On other systems, it has no effect.

The default is 3.

`bdr.global_tcp_user_timeout`

Controls the number of milliseconds that transmitted data can remain unacknowledged before a connection is forcibly closed. A value of zero uses the system default. This parameter is ignored for connections made by a Unix-domain socket. It's supported only on systems where TCP_USER_TIMEOUT is available. On other systems, it has no effect.

The default is 5 seconds (expressed in milliseconds, 5000).

Internal settings - Raft timeouts

`bdr.raft_global_election_timeout`

To account for network failures, the Raft consensus protocol implements timeouts for elections and requests. This value is used when a request is being sent to the global (top-level) group. It defaults to 6 seconds (6s).

`bdr.raft_local_election_timeout`

To account for network failures, the Raft consensus protocol implements timeouts for elections and requests. This value is used when a request is being sent to the sub-group. It defaults to 3 seconds (3s).

`bdr.raft_response_timeout`

For responses, the settings of bdr.raft_global_election_timeout and bdr.raft_local_election_timeout are used as appropriate. This behavior can be overriden by setting this variable. The setting of bdr.raft_response_timeout should be less than either of the election timeout values. Set this variable to -1 and the override is disabled. It defaults to -1.

Internal settings - Other Raft values

`bdr.raft_keep_min_entries`

The minimum number of entries to keep in the Raft log when doing log compaction (default 1000; PGD 5.3 and earlier: 100). The value of 0 disables log compaction. You can set this only at Postgres server start.

Warning

If log compaction is disabled, the log grows in size forever.

`bdr.raft_log_min_apply_duration`

To move the state machine forward, Raft appends entries to its internal log. During normal operation, appending takes only a few milliseconds. This poses an upper threshold on the duration of that append action, above which an INFO message is logged. This can indicate a problem. Default value of this parameter is 3000 ms.

`bdr.raft_log_min_message_duration`

When to log a consensus request. Measure roundtrip time of a bdr consensus request and log an INFO message if the time exceeds this parameter. Default value of this parameter is 5000 ms.

`bdr.raft_group_max_connections`

The maximum number of connections across all PGD groups for a Postgres server. These connections carry bdr consensus requests between the groups' nodes. Default value of this parameter is 100 connections. You can set it only at Postgres server start.

Internal settings - Other values

`bdr.backwards_compatibility`

Specifies the version to be backward compatible to, in the same numerical format as used by bdr.bdr_version_num, e.g., 30618. Enables exact behavior of a former PGD version, even if this has generally unwanted effects. Defaults to the current PGD version. Since this changes from release to release, we advise against explicit use in the configuration file unless the value is different from the current version.

`bdr.track_replication_estimates`

Track replication estimates in terms of apply rates and catchup intervals for peer nodes. Protocols like CAMO can use this information to estimate the readiness of a peer node. This parameter is enabled by default.

`bdr.lag_tracker_apply_rate_weight`

We monitor how far behind peer nodes are in terms of applying WAL from the local node and calculate a moving average of the apply rates for the lag tracking. This parameter specifies how much contribution newer calculated values have in this moving average calculation. Default value is 0.1.

`bdr.enable_auto_sync_reconcile`

Default value (from 5.5.1) is off. When enabled, nodes will perform automatic synchronization of data from a node that is furthest ahead with respect to the down node.

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