Watchdog Configuration Example

This tutorial explains the simple way to try "Watchdog". What you need is 2 Linux boxes on which Pgpool-II is installed and a PostgreSQL on the same machine or in the other one. It is enough that 1 node for backend exists. You can use watchdog with Pgpool-II in any mode: replication mode, master/slave mode and raw mode.

This example uses use "osspc16" as an Active node and "osspc20" as a Standby node. "Someserver" means one of them.

7.2.1. Common configurations

Set the following parameters in both of active and standby nodes.

7.2.1.1. Enabling watchdog

First of all, set use_watchdog to on.

	use_watchdog = on
	# Activates watchdog
       

7.2.1.2. Configure Up stream servers

Specify the up stream servers (e.g. application servers). Leaving it blank is also fine.

       trusted_servers = ''
       # trusted server list which are used
       # to confirm network connection
       # (hostA,hostB,hostC,...)
      

7.2.1.3. Watchdog Communication

Specify the TCP port number for watchdog communication.

       wd_port = 9000
       # port number for watchdog service
      

7.2.1.4. Virtual IP

Specify the IP address to be used as a virtual IP address in the delegate_IP .

	delegate_IP = '133.137.177.143'
	# delegate IP address
       

Note: Make sure the IP address configured as a Virtual IP should be free and is not used by any other machine.

7.2.2. Individual Server Configurations

Next, set the following parameters for each Pgpool-II . Specify other_pgpool_hostname , other_pgpool_port and other_wd_port with the values of other Pgpool-II server values.

7.2.2.1. Active (osspc16) Server configurations

       other_pgpool_hostname0 = 'osspc20'
       # Host name or IP address to connect to for other pgpool 0
       other_pgpool_port0 = 9999
       # Port number for other pgpool 0
       other_wd_port0 = 9000
       # Port number for other watchdog 0
      

7.2.2.2. Standby (osspc20) Server configurations

       other_pgpool_hostname0 = 'osspc16'
       # Host name or IP address to connect to for other pgpool 0
       other_pgpool_port0 = 9999
       # Port number for other pgpool 0
       other_wd_port0 = 9000
       # Port number for other watchdog 0
      

7.2.3. Starting Pgpool-II

Start Pgpool-II on each servers from root user with "-n" switch and redirect log messages into pgpool.log file.

7.2.3.1. Starting pgpool in Active server (osspc16)

First start the Pgpool-II on Active server.

       [user@osspc16]$ su -
       [root@osspc16]# {installed_dir}/bin/pgpool -n -f {installed_dir}/etc/pgpool.conf > pgpool.log 2>&1
      

Log messages will show that Pgpool-II has the virtual IP address and starts watchdog process.

       LOG:  I am announcing my self as master/coordinator watchdog node
       LOG:  I am the cluster leader node
       DETAIL:  our declare coordinator message is accepted by all nodes
       LOG:  I am the cluster leader node. Starting escalation process
       LOG:  escalation process started with PID:59449
       LOG:  watchdog process is initialized
	LOG:  watchdog: escalation started
	LOG:  I am the master watchdog node
       DETAIL:  using the local backend node status
      

7.2.3.2. Starting pgpool in Standby server (osspc20)

Now start the Pgpool-II on Standby server.

       [user@osspc20]$ su -
       [root@osspc20]# {installed_dir}/bin/pgpool -n -f {installed_dir}/etc/pgpool.conf > pgpool.log 2>&1
      

Log messages will show that Pgpool-II has joined the watchdog cluster as standby watchdog.

       LOG:  watchdog cluster configured with 1 remote nodes
       LOG:  watchdog remote node:0 on Linux_osspc16_9000:9000
       LOG:  interface monitoring is disabled in watchdog
       LOG:  IPC socket path: "/tmp/.s.PGPOOLWD_CMD.9000"
       LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [DEAD] to [LOADING]
       LOG:  new outbound connection to Linux_osspc16_9000:9000
       LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [LOADING] to [INITIALIZING]
       LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [INITIALIZING] to [STANDBY]
       	LOG:  successfully joined the watchdog cluster as standby node
	DETAIL:  our join coordinator request is accepted by cluster leader node "Linux_osspc16_9000"
	LOG:  watchdog process is initialized
       
      

7.2.4. Try it out

Confirm to ping to the virtual IP address.

      [user@someserver]$ ping 133.137.177.142
      PING 133.137.177.143 (133.137.177.143) 56(84) bytes of data.
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.328 ms
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.264 ms
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.412 ms
     

Confirm if the Active server which started at first has the virtual IP address.

      [root@osspc16]# ifconfig
      eth0      ...

      eth0:0    inet addr:133.137.177.143 ...

      lo        ...
     

Confirm if the Standby server which started not at first doesn't have the virtual IP address.

      [root@osspc20]# ifconfig
      eth0      ...

      lo        ...
     

Try to connect PostgreSQL by "psql -h delegate_IP -p port".

      [user@someserver]$ psql -h 133.137.177.142 -p 9999 -l
     

7.2.5. Switching virtual IP

Confirm how the Standby server works when the Active server can't provide its service. Stop Pgpool-II on the Active server.

      [root@osspc16]# {installed_dir}/bin/pgpool stop
     

Then, the Standby server starts to use the virtual IP address. Log shows:

             LOG:  remote node "Linux_osspc16_9000" is shutting down
       LOG:  watchdog cluster has lost the coordinator node
      
      LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [STANDBY] to [JOINING]
      LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [JOINING] to [INITIALIZING]
      LOG:  I am the only alive node in the watchdog cluster
      HINT:  skipping stand for coordinator state
      LOG:  watchdog node state changed from [INITIALIZING] to [MASTER]
      LOG:  I am announcing my self as master/coordinator watchdog node
      LOG:  I am the cluster leader node
      DETAIL:  our declare coordinator message is accepted by all nodes
             LOG:  I am the cluster leader node. Starting escalation process
       LOG:  watchdog: escalation started
      
      LOG:  watchdog escalation process with pid: 59551 exit with SUCCESS.
     

Confirm to ping to the virtual IP address.

      [user@someserver]$ ping 133.137.177.142
      PING 133.137.177.143 (133.137.177.143) 56(84) bytes of data.
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.328 ms
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.264 ms
      64 bytes from 133.137.177.143: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.412 ms
     

Confirm that the Active server doesn't use the virtual IP address any more.

      [root@osspc16]# ifconfig
      eth0      ...

      lo        ...
     

Confirm that the Standby server uses the virtual IP address.

      [root@osspc20]# ifconfig
      eth0      ...

      eth0:0    inet addr:133.137.177.143 ...

      lo        ...
     

Try to connect PostgreSQL by "psql -h delegate_IP -p port".

      [user@someserver]$ psql -h 133.137.177.142 -p 9999 -l
     

7.2.6. More

7.2.6.1. Lifecheck

There are the parameters about watchdog's monitoring. Specify the interval to check wd_interval , the count to retry wd_life_point , the query to check wd_lifecheck_query and finally the type of lifecheck wd_lifecheck_method .

	   wd_lifecheck_method = 'query'
	   # Method of watchdog lifecheck ('heartbeat' or 'query' or 'external')
	   # (change requires restart)
	   wd_interval = 10
	   # lifecheck interval (sec) > 0
	   wd_life_point = 3
	   # lifecheck retry times
	   wd_lifecheck_query = 'SELECT 1'
	   # lifecheck query to pgpool from watchdog
	  

7.2.6.2. Switching virtual IP address

There are the parameters for switching the virtual IP address. Specify switching commands if_up_cmd , if_down_cmd , the path to them if_cmd_path , the command executed after switching to send ARP request arping_cmd and the path to it arping_path .

	    ifconfig_path = '/sbin'
	    # ifconfig command path
	    if_up_cmd = 'ifconfig eth0:0 inet $_IP_$ netmask 255.255.255.0'
	    # startup delegate IP command
	    if_down_cmd = 'ifconfig eth0:0 down'
	    # shutdown delegate IP command

	    arping_path = '/usr/sbin'           # arping command path

	    arping_cmd = 'arping -U $_IP_$ -w 1'
	   

You can also use the custom scripts to bring up and bring down the virtual IP using wd_escalation_command and wd_de_escalation_command configurations.