Concept
Each facility has a database server. For each site the facility library is the main library. The libraries from other facilities are replications. These replications are read-only. This means that every site is independent but still benefits from the work and libraries another facility is doing.
In Postgres terms:
Use a Streaming Replication for Multi-Site setups.
Requirements
In each facility you have a database server up and running with Postgres installed.
START STREAMING
Create primary database server
Configure primary server
change postgres.conf to enable networking
create a replication user
allow remote access in pg_hba.conf
This is the database server in our facility in e.g. Munich
initdb -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich
change postgres.conf to enable networking
vim /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich/postgres.conf # uncomment and change the line: listen_addresses = '*' # and change the port to 5433 to avoid conflicts with any default instances that are running on port 5432 port = 5433 # start the Postgres server pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-data start
create a user account
# create user that is allowed to create new databases and read/write information CREATE ROLE dbuser LOGIN password 'password'; ALTER USER dbuser CREATEDB;
create a replication user
# create replication user # postgres is the default postgres database psql --port 5433 postgres [local]:5433 postgres=# create user repuser replication;
allow remote access in pg_hba.conf
add line to allow access for the replication user
vim /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-data/pg_hba.conf # TYPE DATABASE USER CIDR-ADDRESS METHOD # IPv4 local connections host all repuser localhost trust # restart the Postgres server because of changes in the config files pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich restart
The primary system is now ready. Let’s move on to the replica system!
Create replica database server
Now we are at a database server in a different facility. E.g. Vancouver
# create the replica Postgres server # this command pg_basebackup copies the files from the primary database pg_basebackup -h db-munich -U repuser --checkpoint=fast -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich-replica/ -R --slot=daselement_munich -C --port 5432
In the replica directory you will find these two files
standby.signal
this file defines that the database that it is a replica
postgresql.auto.conf
contains information to connect to the primary server
Now start the replica server
# start the Postgres server pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich-replica
END STREAMING
Monitoring
Monitoring should be done on the primary database server
To monitor the databases you can for example use pgwatch2
Setup VMs
install Postgres
START logical replication
Configure Logical Replication
initiate 2 new PostgresSQL database clusters
Configure Publisher server with “wal_level=logical“
Start the instance
Create a database and the tables
Configure primary server
# create database cluster initdb -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich_publication
Edit the config to set the primary database cluster to the Logical Replication mode
# edit postgresql.conf vi /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich_publication/postgresql.conf
# edit line for wal_level to logical wal_level = logical
Now start the database cluster
# start the database cluster pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich_publication start
Create Postgres Users - make sure that the Users exist in all the other databases as well
# access the database via psql psql --port=5432 postgres # create superuser for IT/admins and pipeline TDs CREATE ROLE postgres LOGIN password 'postgres'; ALTER USER root CREATEDB; ALTER USER root CREATEROLE; ALTER USER root SUPERUSER; ALTER USER root REPLICATION; # create user that is allowed to create new databases and read/write information CREATE ROLE user_daselement LOGIN password 'password'; ALTER USER root CREATEDB; # create replication user that is used by the other facilites CREATE ROLE user_replication WITH REPLICATION LOGIN password 'password'; # exit the database from psql \q
Move to a supervisor/lead artists workstation.
Now create a new library inside the software. Use the user_daselement to connect to the databas.
Hurray, we have the main library for facility Munich running.
The next step is create a publication for this newly create database. Back to the Postgres server.
# log in to the newly created database psql --port=5432 de_munich_vfxelements
We have to create a publication for this library/database that all the other facilities can later subscribe to.
# give the user_replication the correct priviliges to create a publication GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE de_munich_vfxelements TO user_replication; GRANT ALLPRIVILEGES ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public to user_replication; # create publication for all tables create publication muc_pub for all tables; # > the expected output is: CREATE PUBLICATION # to show all publication use this command \dRp
Configure subscriber server
Create subscriber database cluster
copy database Schema from the primary database
create subscription to primary database
1 create database
Now let’s setup a database in a different facility
# create database cluster initdb -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich_subscription # start the database cluster pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/daselement-munich_subscription start
2 copy schema
Postgres replication does not support the Postgres Data Definition Language (DLL) commands.
For us this means that we have to copy over the Database Schema from the Primary Database to the subscriber server. This step only needs to be done once.
# create database from primary database psql --port=5460 postgres # create an empty database where the information will be replicated to create database rep_de_munich_vfxelements # expected ouptut: CREATE DATABASE
Now copy over all the information from the primary to the subscriber. Execute this command on the primary database server.
# use pg_dump to copy the data pg_dump -s de_munich_vfxelements -p 5432 | psql -h 192.168.178.50 -p 5432 rep_de_munich_vfxelements
3 create subscription
The last step is now to subscribe to the primary facility publication.
dbname = name of the database in the munich facility (muc_pub)
host = ip-of-publisher-postgres-server (e.g. the munich postgres server)
user = must be a superuser or replication role
create subscription muc_subscription connection 'dbname=de_munich_vfxelements host=192.168.178.50 user=user_replication port=5433' publication muc_pub;
Configure Logical Replication
Create a publication on the Publish Server
Create a subscription on the Subscriber Server
Test the replication
END logical replication
Troubleshooting
userful command
psql commands
command | description |
---|---|
| list all databases |
| |
| list all users |
| lists available publications |
| lists available subscriptions |
| change user password |
Can not start Postgres Database
FATAL: could not create lock file "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5434.lock": Permission denied
Solution is to fix the permissions on the folder. For example like this:
sudo chmod a+w+r /var/lib/postgresql
initdb: command not found
The initdb is located in the installation directory of Postgres.
Fix for Ubuntu:
# create a symbolic link to initdb to access the command sudo ln -s /usr/lib/postgresql/14/bin/initdb /usr/local/bin # now you can run ... initdb
pg_ctl: command not found
The pg_ctl is located in the installation directory of Postgres.
Fix for Ubuntu:
# create a symbolic link to initdb to access the command sudo ln -s /usr/lib/postgresql/14/bin/pg_ctl /usr/local/bin # now you can run ... pg_ctl
Unable to connect to server; FATAL: role “postgres“ does not exist
Seems like there is no user in the database called “postgres”.
To create a user use this command:
# access the database psql --port=5432 postgres # create user in the database CREATE ROLE postgres LOGIN password 'postgres';
Permission denied for table
The subscription server outputs some errror message like this:could not start initial contents copy for table "public.feature": ERROR: permission denied for table feature
Make sure that the User has the correct permission on the primary database server.
Can be fixed with this command:
GRANT ALLPRIVILEGES ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public to user_replication;