As mentioned earlier, each (active) subscription receives changes from a replication slot on the remote (publishing) side.

Additional table synchronization slots are normally transient, created internally to perform initial table synchronization and dropped automatically when they are no longer needed. These table synchronization slots have generated names: “pg_%u_sync_%u_%llu” (parameters: Subscription oid, Table relid, system identifier sysid)

Normally, the remote replication slot is created automatically when the subscription is created using CREATE SUBSCRIPTION and it is dropped automatically when the subscription is dropped using DROP SUBSCRIPTION. In some situations, however, it can be useful or necessary to manipulate the subscription and the underlying replication slot separately. Here are some scenarios:

Create some test tables on the publisher.

test_pub=# CREATE TABLE t1(a int, b text, PRIMARY KEY(a));
CREATE TABLE
test_pub=# CREATE TABLE t2(c int, d text, PRIMARY KEY(c));
CREATE TABLE
test_pub=# CREATE TABLE t3(e int, f text, PRIMARY KEY(e));
CREATE TABLE

Create the same tables on the subscriber.

test_sub=# CREATE TABLE t1(a int, b text, PRIMARY KEY(a));
CREATE TABLE
test_sub=# CREATE TABLE t2(c int, d text, PRIMARY KEY(c));
CREATE TABLE
test_sub=# CREATE TABLE t3(e int, f text, PRIMARY KEY(e));
CREATE TABLE

Insert data to the tables at the publisher side.

test_pub=# INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1, 'one'), (2, 'two'), (3, 'three');
INSERT 0 3
test_pub=# INSERT INTO t2 VALUES (1, 'A'), (2, 'B'), (3, 'C');
INSERT 0 3
test_pub=# INSERT INTO t3 VALUES (1, 'i'), (2, 'ii'), (3, 'iii');
INSERT 0 3

Create publications for the tables. The publications pub2 and pub3a disallow some publish operations. The publication pub3b has a row filter (see Section 31.3).

test_pub=# CREATE PUBLICATION pub1 FOR TABLE t1;
CREATE PUBLICATION
test_pub=# CREATE PUBLICATION pub2 FOR TABLE t2 WITH (publish = 'truncate');
CREATE PUBLICATION
test_pub=# CREATE PUBLICATION pub3a FOR TABLE t3 WITH (publish = 'truncate');
CREATE PUBLICATION
test_pub=# CREATE PUBLICATION pub3b FOR TABLE t3 WHERE (e > 5);
CREATE PUBLICATION

Create subscriptions for the publications. The subscription sub3 subscribes to both pub3a and pub3b. All subscriptions will copy initial data by default.

test_sub=# CREATE SUBSCRIPTION sub1
test_sub-# CONNECTION 'host=localhost dbname=test_pub application_name=sub1'
test_sub-# PUBLICATION pub1;
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION
test_sub=# CREATE SUBSCRIPTION sub2
test_sub-# CONNECTION 'host=localhost dbname=test_pub application_name=sub2'
test_sub-# PUBLICATION pub2;
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION
test_sub=# CREATE SUBSCRIPTION sub3
test_sub-# CONNECTION 'host=localhost dbname=test_pub application_name=sub3'
test_sub-# PUBLICATION pub3a, pub3b;
CREATE SUBSCRIPTION

Observe that initial table data is copied, regardless of the publish operation of the publication.

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t1;
 a |   b
---+-------
 1 | one
 2 | two
 3 | three
(3 rows)

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t2;
 c | d
---+---
 1 | A
 2 | B
 3 | C
(3 rows)

Furthermore, because the initial data copy ignores the publish operation, and because publication pub3a has no row filter, it means the copied table t3 contains all rows even when they do not match the row filter of publication pub3b.

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t3;
 e |  f
---+-----
 1 | i
 2 | ii
 3 | iii
(3 rows)

Insert more data to the tables at the publisher side.

test_pub=# INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (4, 'four'), (5, 'five'), (6, 'six');
INSERT 0 3
test_pub=# INSERT INTO t2 VALUES (4, 'D'), (5, 'E'), (6, 'F');
INSERT 0 3
test_pub=# INSERT INTO t3 VALUES (4, 'iv'), (5, 'v'), (6, 'vi');
INSERT 0 3

Now the publisher side data looks like:

test_pub=# SELECT * FROM t1;
 a |   b
---+-------
 1 | one
 2 | two
 3 | three
 4 | four
 5 | five
 6 | six
(6 rows)

test_pub=# SELECT * FROM t2;
 c | d
---+---
 1 | A
 2 | B
 3 | C
 4 | D
 5 | E
 6 | F
(6 rows)

test_pub=# SELECT * FROM t3;
 e |  f
---+-----
 1 | i
 2 | ii
 3 | iii
 4 | iv
 5 | v
 6 | vi
(6 rows)

Observe that during normal replication the appropriate publish operations are used. This means publications pub2 and pub3a will not replicate the INSERT. Also, publication pub3b will only replicate data that matches the row filter of pub3b. Now the subscriber side data looks like:

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t1;
 a |   b
---+-------
 1 | one
 2 | two
 3 | three
 4 | four
 5 | five
 6 | six
(6 rows)

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t2;
 c | d
---+---
 1 | A
 2 | B
 3 | C
(3 rows)

test_sub=# SELECT * FROM t3;
 e |  f
---+-----
 1 | i
 2 | ii
 3 | iii
 6 | vi
(4 rows)