3.2. PostgreSQL configuration

On the primary server, a PostgreSQL instance must be initialised and running. The following replication settings may need to be adjusted:


    # Enable replication connections; set this figure to at least one more
    # than the number of standbys which will connect to this server
    # (note that repmgr will execute `pg_basebackup` in WAL streaming mode,
    # which requires two free WAL senders)

    max_wal_senders = 10

    # Ensure WAL files contain enough information to enable read-only queries
    # on the standby.
    #
    #  PostgreSQL 9.5 and earlier: one of 'hot_standby' or 'logical'
    #  PostgreSQL 9.6 and later: one of 'replica' or 'logical'
    #    ('hot_standby' will still be accepted as an alias for 'replica')
    #
    # See: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/runtime-config-wal.html#GUC-WAL-LEVEL

    wal_level = 'hot_standby'

    # Enable read-only queries on a standby
    # (Note: this will be ignored on a primary but we recommend including
    # it anyway)

    hot_standby = on

    # Enable WAL file archiving
    archive_mode = on

    # Set archive command to a script or application that will safely store
    # you WALs in a secure place. /bin/true is an example of a command that
    # ignores archiving. Use something more sensible.
    archive_command = '/bin/true'

    # If you have configured "pg_basebackup_options"
    # in "repmgr.conf" to include the setting "--xlog-method=fetch" (from
    # PostgreSQL 10 "--wal-method=fetch"), *and* you have not set
    # "restore_command" in "repmgr.conf"to fetch WAL files from another
    # source such as Barman, you'll need to set "wal_keep_segments" to a
    # high enough value to ensure that all WAL files generated while
    # the standby is being cloned are retained until the standby starts up.
    #
    # wal_keep_segments = 5000
   

Tip: Rather than editing these settings in the default postgresql.conf file, create a separate file such as postgresql.replication.conf and include it from the end of the main configuration file with: include 'postgresql.replication.conf.

Additionally, if you are intending to use pg_rewind, and the cluster was not initialised using data checksums, you may want to consider enabling wal_log_hints; for more details see Using pg_rewind.