Chapter 14. repmgrd demonstration

To demonstrate automatic failover, set up a 3-node replication cluster (one primary and two standbys streaming directly from the primary) so that the cluster looks something like this:

    $ repmgr -f /etc/repmgr.conf cluster show
     ID | Name  | Role    | Status    | Upstream | Location | Connection string
    ----+-------+---------+-----------+----------+----------+--------------------------------------
     1  | node1 | primary | * running |          | default  | host=node1 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr
     2  | node2 | standby |   running | node1    | default  | host=node2 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr
     3  | node3 | standby |   running | node1    | default  | host=node3 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr

Start repmgrd on each standby and verify that it's running by examining the log output, which at log level INFO will look like this:

    [2017-08-24 17:31:00] [NOTICE] using configuration file "/etc/repmgr.conf"
    [2017-08-24 17:31:00] [INFO] connecting to database "host=node2 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr"
    [2017-08-24 17:31:00] [NOTICE] starting monitoring of node node2 (ID: 2)
    [2017-08-24 17:31:00] [INFO] monitoring connection to upstream node "node1" (node ID: 1)

Each repmgrd should also have recorded its successful startup as an event:

    $ repmgr -f /etc/repmgr.conf cluster event --event=repmgrd_start
     Node ID | Name  | Event         | OK | Timestamp           | Details
    ---------+-------+---------------+----+---------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------
     3       | node3 | repmgrd_start | t  | 2017-08-24 17:35:54 | monitoring connection to upstream node "node1" (node ID: 1)
     2       | node2 | repmgrd_start | t  | 2017-08-24 17:35:50 | monitoring connection to upstream node "node1" (node ID: 1)
     1       | node1 | repmgrd_start | t  | 2017-08-24 17:35:46 | monitoring cluster primary "node1" (node ID: 1)  

Now stop the current primary server with e.g.:

    pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/data -m immediate stop

This will force the primary to shut down straight away, aborting all processes and transactions. This will cause a flurry of activity in the repmgrd log files as each repmgrd detects the failure of the primary and a failover decision is made. This is an extract from the log of a standby server (node2) which has promoted to new primary after failure of the original primary (node1).

    [2017-08-24 23:32:01] [INFO] node "node2" (node ID: 2) monitoring upstream node "node1" (node ID: 1) in normal state
    [2017-08-24 23:32:08] [WARNING] unable to connect to upstream node "node1" (node ID: 1)
    [2017-08-24 23:32:08] [INFO] checking state of node 1, 1 of 5 attempts
    [2017-08-24 23:32:08] [INFO] sleeping 1 seconds until next reconnection attempt
    [2017-08-24 23:32:09] [INFO] checking state of node 1, 2 of 5 attempts
    [2017-08-24 23:32:09] [INFO] sleeping 1 seconds until next reconnection attempt
    [2017-08-24 23:32:10] [INFO] checking state of node 1, 3 of 5 attempts
    [2017-08-24 23:32:10] [INFO] sleeping 1 seconds until next reconnection attempt
    [2017-08-24 23:32:11] [INFO] checking state of node 1, 4 of 5 attempts
    [2017-08-24 23:32:11] [INFO] sleeping 1 seconds until next reconnection attempt
    [2017-08-24 23:32:12] [INFO] checking state of node 1, 5 of 5 attempts
    [2017-08-24 23:32:12] [WARNING] unable to reconnect to node 1 after 5 attempts
    INFO:  setting voting term to 1
    INFO:  node 2 is candidate
    INFO:  node 3 has received request from node 2 for electoral term 1 (our term: 0)
    [2017-08-24 23:32:12] [NOTICE] this node is the winner, will now promote self and inform other nodes
    INFO: connecting to standby database
    NOTICE: promoting standby
    DETAIL: promoting server using 'pg_ctl -l /var/log/postgres/startup.log -w -D '/var/lib/pgsql/data' promote'
    INFO: reconnecting to promoted server
    NOTICE: STANDBY PROMOTE successful
    DETAIL: node 2 was successfully promoted to primary
    INFO:  node 3 received notification to follow node 2
    [2017-08-24 23:32:13] [INFO] switching to primary monitoring mode

The cluster status will now look like this, with the original primary (node1) marked as inactive, and standby node3 now following the new primary (node2):

    $ repmgr -f /etc/repmgr.conf cluster show
     ID | Name  | Role    | Status    | Upstream | Location | Connection string
    ----+-------+---------+-----------+----------+----------+----------------------------------------------------
     1  | node1 | primary | - failed  |          | default  | host=node1 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr
     2  | node2 | primary | * running |          | default  | host=node2 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr
     3  | node3 | standby |   running | node2    | default  | host=node3 dbname=repmgr user=repmgr

repmgr cluster event will display a summary of what happened to each server during the failover:

    $ repmgr -f /etc/repmgr.conf cluster event
     Node ID | Name  | Event                    | OK | Timestamp           | Details
    ---------+-------+--------------------------+----+---------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     3       | node3 | repmgrd_failover_follow  | t  | 2017-08-24 23:32:16 | node 3 now following new upstream node 2
     3       | node3 | standby_follow           | t  | 2017-08-24 23:32:16 | node 3 is now attached to node 2
     2       | node2 | repmgrd_failover_promote | t  | 2017-08-24 23:32:13 | node 2 promoted to primary; old primary 1 marked as failed
     2       | node2 | standby_promote          | t  | 2017-08-24 23:32:13 | node 2 was successfully promoted to primary