Traditional Barman Setup With WAL archiving via archive_command in PostgreSQL

July 16, 2021

Traditional Barman Setup With WAL archiving via archive_command in PostgreSQL

In the previous blog, we saw How To Configure Traditional Barman Backup Setup via rsync/ssh Click here to read more. In this blog, we will replace archive_command for WAL archiving via rsync with barman-wal-archive.

From Barman 2.6, the recommended way to safely and reliably archive WAL files to Barman via archive_command is to use the barman-wal-archive command contained in the barman-cli package. We can also use rsync/SSH as in archive_command. But with rsync/SSH method there is no mechanism that guarantees that the content of the file is flushed and fsync-ed to disk on Barman Server.

Follow the below steps to Configure WAL archiving via archive_command

Follow the same steps as in the blog How To Configure Traditional Barman Backup Setup via rsync/ssh Click here to read more from Step 1 to Step 13. In Step 13 Use the below command for archive_command instead of rsync.

[root@test-machine02 ~]# cd /var/lib/pgsql/13/data/
[root@test-machine02 data]# vi postgresql.conf
archive_mode = on
archive_command = 'barman-wal-archive test-machine01 test-machine02 %p'
:wq!
 
[root@test-machine02 system]# systemctl restart postgresql-13
[root@test-machine02 system]#
 
[root@test-machine02 ~]# su - postgres
Last login: Sun Jul 11 10:56:42 +03 2021 on pts/1
-bash-4.2$ psql
psql (13.2)
Type "help" for help.
postgres=#
postgres=# select name,setting,unit from pg_settings where name in ('archive_mode','wal_level','archive_command');
      name       |                       setting                       | unit
-----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+------
 archive_command | barman-wal-archive test-machine01 test-machine02 %p |
 archive_mode    | on                                                  |
 wal_level       | replica                                             |
(3 rows)
 
postgres=#

Step 13.1. Check barman-wal-archive working in Barman server: You can check that barman-wal-archive can connect to the Barman server, and that the required PostgreSQL server is configured in Barman to accept incoming WAL files with the following command:

-bash-4.2$
-bash-4.2$ barman-wal-archive --test test-machine01 test-machine02 DUMMY
barman@test-machine01's password:
Ready to accept WAL files for the server test-machine02
-bash-4.2$

Once the above steps are done you can continue from Step 14 of the same blog How To Configure Traditional Barman Backup Setup via rsync/ssh.

References: BARMAN Document: http://docs.pgbarman.org/release/2.12/
For BARMAN Backup Command: https://dbsguru.com/physical-postgresql-backup-using-barman/
For BARMAN Restore Command: https://dbsguru.com/restore-backup-using-barman-in-postgresql/
For BARMAN PITR Comamnd: https://dbsguru.com/point-in-time-recovery-using-barman-in-postgresql/

This document is just for learning purpose and always validate in the LAB environment first before applying in the LIVE environment.

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