Using Spock to Create a Two-Node Cluster

After installing and initializing Postgres and creating the Spock Extension, you can use the following steps to configure a two-node cluster. In the examples that follow, we'll be creating a cluster that contains two nodes, named n1 and n2 that listen for Postgres server connections on port 5432.

1. Connect to each node, and use the following commands to initialize a cluster:

   sudo /usr/pgsql-17/bin/postgresql-17-setup initdb

   sudo systemctl enable postgresql-17

2. Use your choice of editor to open the postgresql.conf file (located in /var/lib/pgsql/17/data/postgresql.conf) and add the following parameters to the bottom of the file:

   wal_level = 'logical'

   max_worker_processes = 10 max_replication_slots = 10

   max_wal_senders = 10

   shared_preload_libraries = 'spock'

   track_commit_timestamp = on

3. Edit the pg_hba.conf file (opens in a new tab) (located in /var/lib/pgsql/17/data/postgresql.conf) and allow connections between n1 and n2; the following commands are provided as an example only, and are not recommended for production systems as they will open your system for connection from any client:

   host all all 0.0.0.0/0 trust

   local replication all trust

   host replication all 0.0.0.0/0 trust

4. Use the spock.node_create command to create the provider and subscriber nodes; on n1, use the command:

   SELECT spock.node_create (node_name := 'n1', dsn := 'host=<n1_ip_address> port=<n1_port> dbname=<db_name>');

   On n2:

   SELECT spock.node_create (node_name := 'n2', dsn := 'host=<n2_ip_address> port=<n2_port> =<db_name>');

5. On n1, use the spock.repset_add_all_tables command to add the tables in the public schema to the default replication set. If you are working in another schema, customize this command as needed:

   SELECT spock.repset_add_all_tables('default', ARRAY['public']);

6. On n2, use the spock.sub_create command to create the subscription between n2 and n1; the name of the subscription is sub_n2_n1:

   SELECT spock.sub_create (subscription_name := 'sub_n2_n1', provider_dsn := 'host=<n1_ip_address> port=<n1 port> dbname=<db_name>');

   SELECT spock.sub_wait_for_sync('sub_n2_n1');

7. On n1, create a corresponding subscription to n2 named sub_n1_n2:

   SELECT spock.sub_create (subscription_name := 'sub_n1_n2', subscriber_dsn := 'host=<n2_ip_address> port=<n2_port> dbname=<db_name>');

8. To ensure that modifications to your DDL statements are automatically replicated, connect to each node with a Postgres client and invoke the following SQL commands:

   ALTER SYSTEM SET spock.enable_ddl_replication=on;

   ALTER SYSTEM SET spock.include_ddl_repset=on;

   ALTER SYSTEM SET spock.allow_ddl_from_functions=on;

   SELECT pg_reload_conf();

9. Then, check the status of each node:

  SELECT * FROM spock.node;
   node_id | node_name | location | country | info 
  ---------+-------------+----------+---------+------
   22201 | subscriber1 | | | 
   53107 | provider1 | | | 
  (2 rows)
 
  SELECT * FROM spock.sub_show_status();
   subscription_name | status | provider_node | provider_dsn | slot_name | replication_sets | forward_origins 
  -------------------+-------------+---------------+------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+-----------------
   subscription1 | replicating | provider1 | host=localhost port=5432 dbname=postgres | spk_postgres_provider1_subscription1 | {default,default_insert_only,ddl_sql} | 
  (1 row)

A simple test to check that your system is replicating is to connect to the Postgres server on n1 and add an object (like a table), and then confirm that it is available on n2. Similarly, you can create an object on n2, and confirm that it has been created on n1.