27 KiB
stage | group | info | type |
---|---|---|---|
Enablement | Geo | To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments | howto |
Geo database replication (PREMIUM SELF)
NOTE: If your GitLab installation uses external (not managed by Omnibus) PostgreSQL instances, the Omnibus roles will not be able to perform all necessary configuration steps. In this case, follow the Geo with external PostgreSQL instances document instead.
NOTE: The stages of the setup process must be completed in the documented order. Before attempting the steps in this stage, complete all prior stages.
This document describes the minimal steps you have to take to replicate your primary GitLab database to a secondary node's database. You may have to change some values, based on attributes including your database's setup and size.
You are encouraged to first read through all the steps before executing them in your testing/production environment.
PostgreSQL replication
The GitLab primary node where the write operations happen will connect to the primary database server, and secondary nodes will connect to their own database servers (which are also read-only).
We recommend using PostgreSQL replication slots to ensure that the primary node retains all the data necessary for the secondary nodes to recover. See below for more details.
The following guide assumes that:
- You are using Omnibus and therefore you are using PostgreSQL 11 or later
which includes the
pg_basebackup
tool. - You have a primary node already set up (the GitLab server you are replicating from), running Omnibus' PostgreSQL (or equivalent version), and you have a new secondary server set up with the same versions of the OS, PostgreSQL, and GitLab on all nodes.
WARNING: Geo works with streaming replication. Logical replication is not supported at this time. There is an issue where support is being discussed.
Step 1. Configure the primary server
-
SSH into your GitLab primary server and login as root:
sudo -i
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and add a unique name for your node:# The unique identifier for the Geo node. gitlab_rails['geo_node_name'] = '<node_name_here>'
-
Reconfigure the primary node for the change to take effect:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Execute the command below to define the node as primary node:
gitlab-ctl set-geo-primary-node
This command will use your defined
external_url
in/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
. -
GitLab 10.4 and up only: Do the following to make sure the
gitlab
database user has a password defined:NOTE: Until FDW settings are removed in GitLab version 14.0, avoid using single or double quotes in the password for PostgreSQL as that will lead to errors when reconfiguring.
Generate a MD5 hash of the desired password:
gitlab-ctl pg-password-md5 gitlab # Enter password: <your_password_here> # Confirm password: <your_password_here> # fca0b89a972d69f00eb3ec98a5838484
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
:# Fill with the hash generated by `gitlab-ctl pg-password-md5 gitlab` postgresql['sql_user_password'] = '<md5_hash_of_your_password>' # Every node that runs Puma or Sidekiq needs to have the database # password specified as below. If you have a high-availability setup, this # must be present in all application nodes. gitlab_rails['db_password'] = '<your_password_here>'
-
Omnibus GitLab already has a replication user called
gitlab_replicator
. You must set the password for this user manually. You will be prompted to enter a password:gitlab-ctl set-replication-password
This command will also read the
postgresql['sql_replication_user']
Omnibus setting in case you have changedgitlab_replicator
username to something else.If you are using an external database not managed by Omnibus GitLab, you need to create the replicator user and define a password to it manually:
--- Create a new user 'replicator' CREATE USER gitlab_replicator; --- Set/change a password and grants replication privilege ALTER USER gitlab_replicator WITH REPLICATION ENCRYPTED PASSWORD '<replication_password>';
-
Configure PostgreSQL to listen on network interfaces:
For security reasons, PostgreSQL does not listen on any network interfaces by default. However, Geo requires the secondary node to be able to connect to the primary node's database. For this reason, we need the address of each node.
NOTE: For external PostgreSQL instances, see additional instructions.
If you are using a cloud provider, you can lookup the addresses for each Geo node through your cloud provider's management console.
To lookup the address of a Geo node, SSH in to the Geo node and execute:
## ## Private address ## ip route get 255.255.255.255 | awk '{print "Private address:", $NF; exit}' ## ## Public address ## echo "External address: $(curl --silent "ipinfo.io/ip")"
In most cases, the following addresses will be used to configure GitLab Geo:
Configuration Address postgresql['listen_address']
Primary node's public or VPC private address. postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses']
Secondary node's public or VPC private addresses. If you are using Google Cloud Platform, SoftLayer, or any other vendor that provides a virtual private cloud (VPC) you can use the primary and secondary nodes private addresses (corresponds to "internal address" for Google Cloud Platform) for
postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses']
andpostgresql['listen_address']
.The
listen_address
option opens PostgreSQL up to network connections with the interface corresponding to the given address. See the PostgreSQL documentation for more details.NOTE: If you need to use
0.0.0.0
or*
as the listen_address, you will also need to add127.0.0.1/32
to thepostgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses']
setting, to allow Rails to connect through127.0.0.1
. For more information, see omnibus-5258.Depending on your network configuration, the suggested addresses may not be correct. If your primary node and secondary nodes connect over a local area network, or a virtual network connecting availability zones like Amazon's VPC or Google's VPC you should use the secondary node's private address for
postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses']
.Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and add the following, replacing the IP addresses with addresses appropriate to your network configuration:## ## Geo Primary role ## - configure dependent flags automatically to enable Geo ## roles ['geo_primary_role'] ## ## Primary address ## - replace '<primary_node_ip>' with the public or VPC address of your Geo primary node ## postgresql['listen_address'] = '<primary_node_ip>' ## # Allow PostgreSQL client authentication from the primary and secondary IPs. These IPs may be # public or VPC addresses in CIDR format, for example ['198.51.100.1/32', '198.51.100.2/32'] ## postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = ['<primary_node_ip>/32', '<secondary_node_ip>/32'] ## ## Replication settings ## - set this to be the number of Geo secondary nodes you have ## postgresql['max_replication_slots'] = 1 # postgresql['max_wal_senders'] = 10 # postgresql['wal_keep_segments'] = 10 ## ## Disable automatic database migrations temporarily ## (until PostgreSQL is restarted and listening on the private address). ## gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false
-
Optional: If you want to add another secondary node, the relevant setting would look like:
postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = ['<primary_node_ip>/32', '<secondary_node_ip>/32', '<another_secondary_node_ip>/32']
You may also want to edit the
wal_keep_segments
andmax_wal_senders
to match your database replication requirements. Consult the PostgreSQL - Replication documentation for more information. -
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the database listen changes and the replication slot changes to be applied:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Restart PostgreSQL for its changes to take effect:
gitlab-ctl restart postgresql
-
Re-enable migrations now that PostgreSQL is restarted and listening on the private address.
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and change the configuration totrue
:gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = true
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Now that the PostgreSQL server is set up to accept remote connections, run
netstat -plnt | grep 5432
to make sure that PostgreSQL is listening on port5432
to the primary server's private address. -
A certificate was automatically generated when GitLab was reconfigured. This will be used automatically to protect your PostgreSQL traffic from eavesdroppers, but to protect against active ("man-in-the-middle") attackers, the secondary node needs a copy of the certificate. Make a copy of the PostgreSQL
server.crt
file on the primary node by running this command:cat ~gitlab-psql/data/server.crt
Copy the output into a clipboard or into a local file. You will need it when setting up the secondary node! The certificate is not sensitive data.
Step 2. Configure the secondary server
-
SSH into your GitLab secondary server and login as root:
sudo -i
-
Stop application server and Sidekiq
gitlab-ctl stop puma gitlab-ctl stop sidekiq
NOTE: This step is important so we don't try to execute anything before the node is fully configured.
-
Check TCP connectivity to the primary node's PostgreSQL server:
gitlab-rake gitlab:tcp_check[<primary_node_ip>,5432]
NOTE: If this step fails, you may be using the wrong IP address, or a firewall may be preventing access to the server. Check the IP address, paying close attention to the difference between public and private addresses and ensure that, if a firewall is present, the secondary node is permitted to connect to the primary node on port 5432.
-
Create a file
server.crt
in the secondary server, with the content you got on the last step of the primary node's setup:editor server.crt
-
Set up PostgreSQL TLS verification on the secondary node:
Install the
server.crt
file:install \ -D \ -o gitlab-psql \ -g gitlab-psql \ -m 0400 \ -T server.crt ~gitlab-psql/.postgresql/root.crt
PostgreSQL will now only recognize that exact certificate when verifying TLS connections. The certificate can only be replicated by someone with access to the private key, which is only present on the primary node.
-
Test that the
gitlab-psql
user can connect to the primary node's database (the default Omnibus database name isgitlabhq_production
):sudo \ -u gitlab-psql /opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/psql \ --list \ -U gitlab_replicator \ -d "dbname=gitlabhq_production sslmode=verify-ca" \ -W \ -h <primary_node_ip>
When prompted enter the password you set in the first step for the
gitlab_replicator
user. If all worked correctly, you should see the list of primary node's databases.A failure to connect here indicates that the TLS configuration is incorrect. Ensure that the contents of
~gitlab-psql/data/server.crt
on the primary node match the contents of~gitlab-psql/.postgresql/root.crt
on the secondary node. -
Configure PostgreSQL:
This step is similar to how we configured the primary instance. We need to enable this, even if using a single node.
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and add the following, replacing the IP addresses with addresses appropriate to your network configuration:## ## Geo Secondary role ## - configure dependent flags automatically to enable Geo ## roles ['geo_secondary_role'] ## ## Secondary address ## - replace '<secondary_node_ip>' with the public or VPC address of your Geo secondary node ## postgresql['listen_address'] = '<secondary_node_ip>' postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = ['<secondary_node_ip>/32'] ## ## Database credentials password (defined previously in primary node) ## - replicate same values here as defined in primary node ## postgresql['sql_user_password'] = '<md5_hash_of_your_password>' gitlab_rails['db_password'] = '<your_password_here>'
For external PostgreSQL instances, see additional instructions. If you bring a former primary node back online to serve as a secondary node, then you also need to remove
roles ['geo_primary_role']
orgeo_primary_role['enable'] = true
. -
Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Restart PostgreSQL for the IP change to take effect:
gitlab-ctl restart postgresql
Step 3. Initiate the replication process
Below we provide a script that connects the database on the secondary node to the database on the primary node, replicates the database, and creates the needed files for streaming replication.
The directories used are the defaults that are set up in Omnibus. If you have changed any defaults, configure it as you see fit replacing the directories and paths.
WARNING:
Make sure to run this on the secondary server as it removes all PostgreSQL's
data before running pg_basebackup
.
-
SSH into your GitLab secondary server and login as root:
sudo -i
-
Choose a database-friendly name to use for your secondary node to use as the replication slot name. For example, if your domain is
secondary.geo.example.com
, you may usesecondary_example
as the slot name as shown in the commands below. -
Execute the command below to start a backup/restore and begin the replication
WARNING: Each Geo secondary node must have its own unique replication slot name. Using the same slot name between two secondaries will break PostgreSQL replication.
gitlab-ctl replicate-geo-database \ --slot-name=<secondary_node_name> \ --host=<primary_node_ip>
NOTE: Replication slot names must only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and the underscore character.
When prompted, enter the plaintext password you set up for the
gitlab_replicator
user in the first step.This command also takes a number of additional options. You can use
--help
to list them all, but here are a couple of tips:- If PostgreSQL is listening on a non-standard port, add
--port=
as well. - If your database is too large to be transferred in 30 minutes, you will need
to increase the timeout, e.g.,
--backup-timeout=3600
if you expect the initial replication to take under an hour. - Pass
--sslmode=disable
to skip PostgreSQL TLS authentication altogether (e.g., you know the network path is secure, or you are using a site-to-site VPN). This is not safe over the public Internet! - You can read more details about each
sslmode
in the PostgreSQL documentation; the instructions above are carefully written to ensure protection against both passive eavesdroppers and active "man-in-the-middle" attackers. - Change the
--slot-name
to the name of the replication slot to be used on the primary database. The script will attempt to create the replication slot automatically if it does not exist. - If you're repurposing an old server into a Geo secondary node, you'll need to
add
--force
to the command line. - When not in a production machine you can disable backup step if you
really sure this is what you want by adding
--skip-backup
- If PostgreSQL is listening on a non-standard port, add
The replication process is now complete.
PgBouncer support (optional)
PgBouncer may be used with GitLab Geo to pool PostgreSQL connections. We recommend using PgBouncer if you use GitLab in a high-availability configuration with a cluster of nodes supporting a Geo primary node and another cluster of nodes supporting a Geo secondary node. For more information, see High Availability with Omnibus GitLab.
Patroni support
Support for Patroni is intended to replace repmgr
as a
highly available PostgreSQL solution
on the primary node, but it can also be used for PostgreSQL HA on a secondary
site.
Starting with GitLab 13.5, Patroni is available for experimental use with Geo primary and secondary sites. Due to its experimental nature, Patroni support is subject to change without notice.
This experimental implementation has the following limitations:
- Whenever
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
runs on a Patroni Leader instance, there's a chance the node will be demoted due to the required short-time restart. To avoid this, you can pause auto-failover by runninggitlab-ctl patroni pause
. After a reconfigure, it resumes on its own.
For instructions about how to set up Patroni on the primary site, see the PostgreSQL replication and failover with Omnibus GitLab page.
If you are currently using repmgr
on your Geo primary site, see these instructions for migrating from repmgr
to Patroni.
A production-ready and secure setup requires at least three Consul nodes, three Patroni nodes, one internal load-balancing node on the primary site, and a similar configuration for the secondary site. The internal load balancer provides a single endpoint for connecting to the Patroni cluster's leader whenever a new leader is elected. Be sure to use password credentials and other database best practices.
Similar to repmgr
, using Patroni on a secondary node is optional.
Step 1. Configure Patroni permanent replication slot on the primary site
To set up database replication with Patroni on a secondary node, we need to configure a permanent replication slot on the primary node's Patroni cluster, and ensure password authentication is used.
For each Patroni instance on the primary site starting on the Patroni Leader instance:
-
SSH into your Patroni instance and login as root:
sudo -i
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and add the following:consul['enable'] = true consul['configuration'] = { retry_join: %w[CONSUL_PRIMARY1_IP CONSULT_PRIMARY2_IP CONSULT_PRIMARY3_IP] } repmgr['enable'] = false # You need one entry for each secondary, with a unique name following PostgreSQL slot_name constraints: # # Configuration syntax will be: 'unique_slotname' => { 'type' => 'physical' }, # We don't support setting a permanent replication slot for logical replication type patroni['replication_slots'] = { 'geo_secondary' => { 'type' => 'physical' } } patroni['use_pg_rewind'] = true patroni['postgresql']['max_wal_senders'] = 8 # Use double of the amount of patroni/reserved slots (3 patronis + 1 reserved slot for a Geo secondary). patroni['postgresql']['max_replication_slots'] = 8 # Use double of the amount of patroni/reserved slots (3 patronis + 1 reserved slot for a Geo secondary). postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = [ 'PATRONI_PRIMARY1_IP/32', 'PATRONI_PRIMARY2_IP/32', 'PATRONI_PRIMARY3_IP/32', 'PATRONI_PRIMARY_PGBOUNCER/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY1_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY2_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY3_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY_PGBOUNCER/32' # We list all secondary instances as they can all become a Standby Leader ] postgresql['pgbouncer_user_password'] = 'PGBOUNCER_PASSWORD_HASH' postgresql['sql_replication_password'] = 'POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_HASH' postgresql['sql_user_password'] = 'POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_HASH'
-
Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Step 2. Configure the internal load balancer on the primary site
To avoid reconfiguring the Standby Leader on the secondary site whenever a new Leader is elected on the primary site, we'll need to set up a TCP internal load balancer which will give a single endpoint for connecting to the Patroni cluster's Leader.
The Omnibus GitLab packages do not include a Load Balancer. Here's how you could do it with HAProxy.
The following IPs and names will be used as an example:
10.6.0.21
: Patroni 1 (patroni1.internal
)10.6.0.21
: Patroni 2 (patroni2.internal
)10.6.0.22
: Patroni 3 (patroni3.internal
)
global
log /dev/log local0
log localhost local1 notice
log stdout format raw local0
defaults
log global
default-server inter 3s fall 3 rise 2 on-marked-down shutdown-sessions
frontend internal-postgresql-tcp-in
bind *:5000
mode tcp
option tcplog
default_backend postgresql
backend postgresql
option httpchk
http-check expect status 200
server patroni1.internal 10.6.0.21:5432 maxconn 100 check port 8008
server patroni2.internal 10.6.0.22:5432 maxconn 100 check port 8008
server patroni3.internal 10.6.0.23.195:5432 maxconn 100 check port 8008
Refer to your preferred Load Balancer's documentation for further guidance.
Step 3. Configure a Standby cluster on the secondary site
NOTE: If you are converting a secondary site to a Patroni Cluster, you must start on the PostgreSQL instance. It will become the Patroni Standby Leader instance, and then you can switchover to another replica if you need.
For each Patroni instance on the secondary site:
-
SSH into your Patroni node and login as root:
sudo -i
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and add the following:roles ['consul_role', 'postgres_role'] consul['enable'] = true consul['configuration'] = { retry_join: %w[CONSUL_SECONDARY1_IP CONSULT_SECONDARY2_IP CONSULT_SECONDARY3_IP] } repmgr['enable'] = false postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = [ 'PATRONI_SECONDARY1_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY2_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY3_IP/32', 'PATRONI_SECONDARY_PGBOUNCER/32', # Any other instance that needs access to the database as per documentation ] patroni['enable'] = false patroni['standby_cluster']['enable'] = true patroni['standby_cluster']['host'] = 'INTERNAL_LOAD_BALANCER_PRIMARY_IP' patroni['standby_cluster']['port'] = INTERNAL_LOAD_BALANCER_PRIMARY_PORT patroni['standby_cluster']['primary_slot_name'] = 'geo_secondary' # Or the unique replication slot name you setup before patroni['replication_password'] = 'PLAIN_TEXT_POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD' patroni['use_pg_rewind'] = true patroni['postgresql']['max_wal_senders'] = 5 # A minimum of three for one replica, plus two for each additional replica patroni['postgresql']['max_replication_slots'] = 5 # A minimum of three for one replica, plus two for each additional replica
-
Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect. This is required to bootstrap PostgreSQL users and settings:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Remove the PostgreSQL data directory:
WARNING: If you are converting a secondary site to a Patroni Cluster, you must skip this step on the PostgreSQL instance.
rm -rf /var/opt/gitlab/postgresql/data
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
to enable Patroni:patroni['enable'] = true
-
Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Migrating from repmgr to Patroni
- Before migrating, it is recommended that there is no replication lag between the primary and secondary sites and that replication is paused. In GitLab 13.2 and later, you can pause and resume replication with
gitlab-ctl geo-replication-pause
andgitlab-ctl geo-replication-resume
on a Geo secondary database node. - Follow the instructions to migrate repmgr to Patroni. When configuring Patroni on each primary site database node, add
patroni['replicaton_slots'] = { '<slot_name>' => 'physical' }
togitlab.rb
where<slot_name>
is the name of the replication slot for your Geo secondary. This will ensure that Patroni recognizes the replication slot as permanent and will not drop it upon restarting. - If database replication to the secondary was paused before migration, resume replication once Patroni is confirmed working on the primary.
Migrating a single PostgreSQL node to Patroni
Before the introduction of Patroni, Geo had no Omnibus support for HA setups on the secondary node.
With Patroni it's now possible to support that. In order to migrate the existing PostgreSQL to Patroni:
- Make sure you have a Consul cluster setup on the secondary (similar to how you set it up on the primary).
- Configure a permanent replication slot.
- Configure the internal load balancer.
- Configure a Standby Cluster on that single node machine.
You will end up with a "Standby Cluster" with a single node. That allows you to later on add additional Patroni nodes by following the same instructions above.
Troubleshooting
Read the troubleshooting document.