Release notes for repmgr 3.0.2: repmgr - Replication Manager for PostgreSQL

repmgr 3.0.2 released

What is repmgr?

repmgr is an open source package which greatly simplifies the process of setting up and managing replication using streaming replication within a cluster of PostgreSQL servers. Taking advantage of features introduced since PostgreSQL 9.3, repmgr builds on PostgreSQL's core functionality to provide a smooth, user-friendly way of working with the complexities of replication and failover management in high-availability environments.

repmgr consists of two core tools - the repmgr command line interface, which provides functionality for adminstering replication such as cloning standby servers, and repmgrd, a background daemon which monitors nodes in a replication cluster and provides automatic failover support.

The current repmgr major version, 3.0, introduces a number of new features which further simplify replication administration:

Standby cloning with pg_basebackup
Timeline following:
- a standby can be promoted to a master without requiring a restart
- other standbys can connect to the new master without being resynced
Cascading standby support
- Standbys not directly connected to the master node are not affected during failover of the master to another standby mode
Replication slot support (PostgreSQL 9.4 and later), simplifying WAL retention management

Additionally many usability improvements have been made based on user feedback, including better error reporting, removing the requirement to set pg_bindir if PostgreSQL binaries are in the default path, and a command line option to examine a server's configuration and report any changes required for setting up replication.

Note that repmgr 3.0.2 supports PostgreSQL 9.3 and later only.

2ndQuadrant provides professional support services for repmgr - see our website for details.

Changes in release 3.0.2

See the repmgr 3.0 release notes for information about the main changes in the repmgr 3.0 series.

Improvements

repmgr witness create no longer requires the -l/--local-port option to specify a non-default port; repmgr will extract the port information from the conninfo parameter in repmgr.conf
Tablespace remapping in rsync mode supported in PostgreSQL 9.5 and later
repmgr witness create --force will overwrite the specified data directory
repmgr master register handling improved

Bug fixes

-?/--help output and handling of --help/--version options improved
Better handling of a situation where the specified logfile can't be opened
Always pass -D/--pgdata option to pg_basebackup
Ensure repmgr standby clone --force empties pg_xlog
Comments after values in repmgr.conf will be ignored
repmgr standby follow correctly updates metadata
Fix to tablespace mapping option when used with PostgreSQL 9.3
Documentation and logging fixes
Fix -D/--data-dir's long option (was historically --dest-dir))

New or altered command line options (repmgr)

New repmgr command UNREGISTER STANDBY to remove a standby's metadata from the repmgr database
PRIMARY is now an alias for MASTER, e.g. repmgr primary register
-l/--local-port is deprecated (see above for details)

Community and development

repmgr is free and open source software and is licensed under the GPLv3.

Contributions to repmgr are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for information about how to contribute.