[DRBD-user] DRBD Replication Modes

Lars Ellenberg lars.ellenberg at linbit.com
Wed Dec 12 11:43:14 CET 2012

Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.


On Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 09:25:32AM -0500, Nathan Joyes wrote:
> >> We are investigating the possibility of using DRBD to perform 
> >> synchronous replication of our PostgreSQL database server. After 
> >> reading the Replication modes section of the DRBD features 
> >> documentation we concluded that we would need to use protocol C, which 
> >> is describes writes to be considered complete only after both the 
> >> local and the remote disk writes have been confirmed.  However, during 
> >> our testing we were able to continuously write to the primary device 
> >> after disabling network traffic on the secondary.
> >
> >http://www.drbd.org/users-guide/s-node-failure.html
> >
> >>  We also noticed that during high write loads on the primary the 
> >> number of kilobytes out of sync would grow, but eventually the 
> >> secondary would catch up.
> >
> >Only when in disconnected mode. And then after the connection is restored, you resync:
> >http://www.drbd.org/users-guide/s-resync.html
> >
> >> After reading the documentation, we were surprised at the testing results.
> >
> >Um, sorry, you seem to not have reviewed the documentation in sufficient detail. :)
> >
> >> Is this expected and/or correct behavior, or have we incorrectly 
> >> configured something for the DRBD device?
> >
> >Perfectly expected.
> >
> >Now, if you're looking for PostgreSQL HA, the alternative to DRBD is
> >obviously to use Postgres synchronous replication, available since
> >9.1. Also integrated with Pacemaker. Since that option forgoes >DRBD,
> >though, a discussion of that option would be off-topic for this list,
> >and if you're interested in pursuing that option I'd encourage you to
> >take this discussion to the Pacemaker or linux-ha >mailing list.
> 
> Thanks for the links.  After re-reading them it sounds like protocol C 
> is synchronous when in a connected state, otherwise it suspends replication
> until the connection is restored, and it then performs a resync.

Right.
Though we also can behave differently (e.g. block IO).

What behaviour would you like to see?
Why?

-- 
: Lars Ellenberg
: LINBIT | Your Way to High Availability
: DRBD/HA support and consulting http://www.linbit.com

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