pglogical
A logical replication extension for PostgreSQL that enables high-performance, cross-version data replication and upgrades.
What is pglogical?
pglogical is a logical replication extension for PostgreSQL that enables efficient, row-level data synchronization between database instances. It solves the problem of high-performance replication across different PostgreSQL versions while supporting selective data replication and conflict resolution.
Database administrators and developers managing PostgreSQL deployments who need reliable replication for high availability, data distribution, or version upgrades.
Developers choose pglogical for its superior performance over traditional replication tools, cross-version compatibility, and flexibility in replicating specific data subsets without requiring full instance duplication.
Overview
Logical Replication extension for PostgreSQL 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9.6, 9.5, 9.4 (Postgres), providing much faster replication than Slony, Bucardo or Londiste, as well as cross-version upgrades.
Use Cases
Best For
- Replicating specific tables or schemas between PostgreSQL databases
- Performing cross-version PostgreSQL upgrades with minimal downtime
- Setting up high-availability PostgreSQL clusters with logical replication
- Distributing data across geographically dispersed database instances
- Synchronizing data for reporting or analytics databases
- Migrating from older replication tools like Slony or Bucardo
Not Ideal For
- Environments using non-PostgreSQL databases or requiring heterogeneous DBMS replication
- Simple high-availability setups where PostgreSQL's built-in streaming replication suffices
- Teams with minimal PostgreSQL DBA expertise who need plug-and-play replication solutions
- Projects requiring real-time replication with zero configuration overhead or automatic failover
Pros & Cons
Pros
Benchmarks indicate significantly faster replication than alternatives like Slony or Bucardo, as highlighted in the features, making it ideal for data-intensive applications.
Supports replication between PostgreSQL versions 9.4 to 17, enabling seamless version upgrades without downtime, which is a key value proposition for migrations.
Allows replication of specific tables, schemas, or databases rather than entire instances, providing flexibility for complex data flows as described in the selective replication feature.
Includes mechanisms to handle data conflicts during replication, ensuring reliability in distributed setups, though it requires configuration.
Cons
Exclusively works with PostgreSQL databases, limiting use in mixed-database environments or migrations to other systems.
Requires extension installation and detailed configuration of replication sets, which can be more involved than using PostgreSQL's native replication tools.
Ongoing management, such as handling conflicts and monitoring performance, may demand specialized DBA skills and additional tooling.
Open Source Alternative To
pglogical is an open-source alternative to the following products:
Slony is an open-source replication system for PostgreSQL databases, providing asynchronous master-slave replication to support high availability, load balancing, and data distribution.
Londiste is a replication system for PostgreSQL that provides master-slave replication with trigger-based change capture, part of the Skytools suite from Skype.
Bucardo is an open-source asynchronous PostgreSQL replication system that provides multi-master replication and conflict resolution capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
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