Postgres Pro Enterprise : Documentation: 15: pg_waldump : Postgres Professional

pg_waldump
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pg_waldump

pg_waldump — display a human-readable rendering of the write-ahead log of a Postgres Pro database cluster

Synopsis

pg_waldump [option...] [timestamp-option...] [startseg [endseg]]

Description

pg_waldump displays the write-ahead log (WAL) and prints timestamps for WAL records. This utility is mainly useful for debugging or educational purposes.

This utility can only be run by the user who installed the server, because it requires read-only access to the data directory.

Options

The following command-line options control the location and format of the output:

startseg

Start reading at the specified log segment file. This implicitly determines the path in which files will be searched for, and the timeline to use.

endseg

Stop after reading the specified log segment file.

-b --bkp-details

Output detailed information about backup blocks.

-B block --block=block

Only display records that modify the given block. The relation must also be provided with --relation or -R.

-e end --end=end

Stop reading at the specified WAL location, instead of reading to the end of the log stream.

-f --follow

After reaching the end of valid WAL, keep polling once per second for new WAL to appear.

-F fork --fork=fork

If provided, only display records that modify blocks in the given fork. The valid values are main for the main fork, fsm for the free space map, vm for the visibility map, and init for the init fork.

-n limit --limit=limit

Display the specified number of records, then stop.

-p path --path=path

Specifies a directory to search for log segment files or a directory with a pg_wal subdirectory that contains such files. The default is to search in the current directory, the pg_wal subdirectory of the current directory, and the pg_wal subdirectory of PGDATA.

-q --quiet

Do not print any output, except for errors. This option can be useful when you want to know whether a range of WAL records can be successfully parsed but don't care about the record contents.

-r rmgr --rmgr=rmgr

Only display records generated by the specified resource manager. You can specify the option multiple times to select multiple resource managers. If list is passed as name, print a list of valid resource manager names, and exit.

Extensions may define custom resource managers, but pg_waldump does not load the extension module and therefore does not recognize custom resource managers by name. Instead, you can specify the custom resource managers as custom### where "###" is the three-digit resource manager ID. Names of this form will always be considered valid.

-R tblspc/db/rel --relation=tblspc/db/rel

Only display records that modify blocks in the given relation. The relation is specified with tablespace OID, database OID, and relfilenode separated by slashes, for example 1234/12345/12345. This is the same format used for relations in the program's output.

-s start --start=start

WAL location at which to start reading. The default is to start reading the first valid log record found in the earliest file found.

-t timeline --timeline=timeline

Timeline from which to read log records. The default is to use the value in startseg, if that is specified; otherwise, the default is 1.

-V --version

Print the pg_waldump version and exit.

-w --fullpage

Only display records that include full page images.

--save-fullpage=save_path

Save full page images found in the WAL records to the save_path directory. The images saved are subject to the same filtering and limiting criteria as the records displayed.

The full page images are saved with the following file name format: TIMELINE-LSN.RELTABLESPACE.DATOID.RELNODE.BLKNOFORK The file names are composed of the following parts:

Component	Description
TIMELINE	The timeline of the WAL segment file where the record is located formatted as one 8-character hexadecimal number `%08X`
LSN	The LSN of the record with this image, formatted as two 8-character hexadecimal numbers `%08X-%08X`
RELTABLESPACE	tablespace OID of the block
DATOID	database OID of the block
RELNODE	filenode of the block
BLKNO	block number of the block
FORK	The name of the fork the full page image came from, as of `_main`, `_fsm`, `_vm`, or `_init`.

-x xid --xid=xid

Only display records marked with the given transaction ID.

-z --stats[=record]

Display summary statistics (number and size of records and full-page images) instead of individual records. Optionally generate statistics per-record instead of per-rmgr.

If pg_waldump is terminated by signal SIGINT (Control+C), the summary of the statistics computed is displayed up to the termination point. This operation is not supported on Windows.

-? --help

Show help about pg_waldump command line arguments, and exit.

The following command-line options enable printing timestamps for various types of WAL records. You can use these options together with startseg, endseg, -s, and -e options.

-E --end-timestamp

Print the timestamp of the last WAL record of the specified type found in the log segment file. When using this option, you must also specify the -S option.

By default, pg_waldump prints timestamps only for COMMIT records. You can specify other record types using the --timestamp-filter option.

-S --start-timestamp

Print the timestamp of the first WAL record of the specified type found in the log segment file. This option is required if you are going to use -E or --timestamp-filter options.

By default, pg_waldump prints timestamps only for COMMIT records. You can specify other record types using the --timestamp-filter option.

--timestamp-filter=argument [, ...]

Specify WAL record types for which to print timestamps. When using this option, you must also specify the -S option.

The --timestamp-filter option can take the following arguments, in the comma-separated format:

XLOG_RESTORE_POINT — named restore points created with the pg_create_restore_point() function.
XLOG_XACT_COMMIT — commit records for transactions. These records are caused by the COMMIT command.
XLOG_XACT_COMMIT_PREPARED — commit records for transactions that were earlier prepared for a two-phase commit. These records are caused by the COMMIT PREPARED command.
XLOG_XACT_ABORT — abort records for transactions. These records are caused by the ROLLBACK command.
XLOG_XACT_ABORT_PREPARED — abort records for transactions that were earlier prepared for a two-phase commit. These records are caused by the ROLLBACK PREPARED command.

By default, pg_waldump prints timestamps only for COMMIT records.

Environment

PGDATA: Data directory; see also the -p option.
PG_COLOR: Specifies whether to use color in diagnostic messages. Possible values are always, auto and never.

Notes

Can give wrong results when the server is running.

Only the specified timeline is displayed (or the default, if none is specified). Records in other timelines are ignored.

pg_waldump cannot read WAL files with suffix .partial. If those files need to be read, .partial suffix needs to be removed from the file name.