pgbouncer
pgbouncer — a Postgres Pro connection pooler
Synopsis
On Linux systems:
pgbouncer [ -d ] [ -R ] [ -v ] [ -u user ] pgbouncer.ini
pgbouncer -V | -h
On Windows systems:
pgbouncer [ -v ] [ -u user ] pgbouncer.ini
pgbouncer -V | -h
To use pgbouncer as a Windows service:
pgbouncer.exe --regservice pgbouncer.ini
pgbouncer.exe --unregservice pgbouncer.ini
Description
pgbouncer is a Postgres Pro connection pooler. Any target application can be connected to pgbouncer as if it were a Postgres Pro server, and pgbouncer will create a connection to the actual server, or it will reuse one of its existing connections.
The aim of pgbouncer is to lower the performance impact of opening new connections to Postgres Pro.
In order not to compromise transaction semantics for connection pooling, pgbouncer supports several types of pooling when rotating connections:
- Session pooling
Most polite method. When client connects, a server connection will be assigned to it for the whole duration the client stays connected. When the client disconnects, the server connection will be put back into the pool. This is the default method.
- Transaction pooling
A server connection is assigned to client only during a transaction. When pgbouncer notices that transaction is over, the server connection will be put back into the pool.
- Statement pooling
Most aggressive method. The server connection will be put back into pool immediately after a query completes. Multi-statement transactions are disallowed in this mode as they would break.
The administration interface of pgbouncer consists of some new SHOW commands available when connected to a special 'virtual' database pgbouncer.
Quick Start
Basic setup and usage is as follows.
Create a
pgbouncer.inifile. For example:[databases] template1 = host=127.0.0.1 port=5432 dbname=template1 [pgbouncer] listen_port = 6543 listen_addr = 127.0.0.1 auth_type = md5 auth_file = users.txt logfile = pgbouncer.log pidfile = pgbouncer.pid admin_users = someuser
Create
users.txtfile that contains users allowed in:"someuser" "same_password_as_in_server"
Launch pgbouncer:
$ pgbouncer -d pgbouncer.ini
Note
The above command does not work on Windows systems. Instead, pgbouncer must be launched as a service that first needs to be registered, as follows:
pgbouncer --regservice
Have your application (or the
psqlclient) connect to pgbouncer instead of directly to Postgres Pro server:$ psql -p 6543 -U someuser template1
Manage pgbouncer by connecting to the special administration database pgbouncer and issuing
show help;to begin:$ psql -p 6543 -U someuser pgbouncer pgbouncer=# show help; NOTICE: Console usage DETAIL: SHOW [HELP|CONFIG|DATABASES|FDS|POOLS|CLIENTS|SERVERS|SOCKETS|LISTS|VERSION] SET key = arg RELOAD PAUSE SUSPEND RESUME SHUTDOWN
If you made changes to the
pgbouncer.inifile, you can reload it with:pgbouncer=# RELOAD;
Options
-dRun in background. Without it the process will run in foreground.
Note
Does not work on Windows, pgbouncer needs to run as service there.
-RDo an online restart. That means connecting to the running process, loading the open sockets from it, and then using them. If there is no active process, boot normally.
Note
Works only if OS supports Unix sockets and the
unix_socket_diris not disabled in config. Does not work on Windows systems. Does not work with TLS connections, they are dropped.-uuserSwitch to the given user on startup.
-vIncrease verbosity. Can be used multiple times.
-qBe quiet — do not log to
stdout.Note
This does not affect logging verbosity, only that
stdoutis not to be used. For use ininit.dscripts.-VShow version.
-hShow short help.
--regserviceWin32: Register to run as Windows service. The
service_nameconfig parameter value is used as name to register under.--unregserviceWin32: Unregister Windows service.
Admin Console
The console is available by connecting as normal to the database pgbouncer:
$ psql -p 6543 pgbouncer
Only users listed in configuration parameters admin_users or stats_users are allowed to login to the console. (Except when auth_mode=any, then any user is allowed in as a stats_user.)
Additionally, the username pgbouncer is allowed to log in without password, if the login comes via Unix socket and the client has same Unix user uid as the running process.
Show Commands
The SHOW commands output information. Each command is described below.
SHOW STATS;
Shows statistics.
databaseStatistics are presented per database.
total_requestsTotal number of SQL requests pooled by pgbouncer.
total_receivedTotal volume in bytes of network traffic received by pgbouncer.
total_sentTotal volume in bytes of network traffic sent by pgbouncer.
total_query_timeTotal number of microseconds spent by pgbouncer when actively connected to Postgres Pro.
avg_reqAverage requests per second in last stat period.
avg_recvAverage received (from clients) bytes per second.
avg_sentAverage sent (to clients) bytes per second.
avg_queryAverage query duration in microseconds.
SHOW SERVERS;
typeS, for server.
userUsername pgbouncer uses to connect to server.
databaseDatabase name.
stateState of the pgbouncer server connection, one of
active,usedoridle.addrIP address of Postgres Pro server.
portPort of Postgres Pro server.
local_addrConnection start address on local machine.
local_portConnection start port on local machine.
connect_timeWhen the connection was made.
request_timeWhen last request was issued.
ptrAddress of internal object for this connection. Used as unique ID.
linkAddress of client connection the server is paired with.
remote_pidProcess ID (PID) of backend server process. In case connection is made over Unix socket and OS supports getting process ID info, it's OS PID. Otherwise it's extracted from cancel packet server sent, which should be PID in case server is Postgres Pro, but it's a random number in case server is another pgbouncer.
SHOW CLIENTS;
typeC, for client.
userClient connected user.
databaseDatabase name.
stateState of the client connection, one of
active,used,waitingoridle.addrIP address of client.
portPort client is connected to.
local_addrConnection end address on local machine.
local_portConnection end port on local machine.
connect_timeTimestamp of connect time.
request_timeTimestamp of latest client request.
ptrAddress of internal object for this connection. Used as unique ID.
linkAddress of server connection the client is paired with.
remote_pidProcess ID, in case client connects over Unix socket and OS supports getting it.
SHOW POOLS;
A new pool entry is made for each couple of (database, user).
databaseDatabase name.
userUser name.
cl_activeClient connections that are linked to server connection and can process queries.
cl_waitingClient connections have sent queries but have not yet got a server connection.
sv_activeServer connections that linked to client.
sv_idleServer connections that are unused and immediately usable for client queries.
sv_usedServer connections that have been idle more than
server_check_delay, so they needserver_check_queryto run on it before it can be used.sv_testedServer connections that are currently running either
server_reset_queryorserver_check_query.sv_loginServer connections currently in logging in process.
maxwaitHow long the first (oldest) client in queue has waited, in seconds. If this starts increasing, then the current pool of servers does not handle requests quick enough. Reason may be either overloaded server or just too small of a
pool_sizesetting.pool_modeThe pooling mode in use.
SHOW LISTS;
Show following internal information, in columns (not rows):
databasesCount of databases.
usersCount of users.
poolsCount of pools.
free_clientsCount of free clients.
used_clientsCount of used clients.
login_clientsCount of clients in
loginstate.free_serversCount of free servers.
used_serversCount of used servers.
SHOW USERS;
nameThe user name.
pool_modeThe user's override
pool_mode, orNULLif the default will be used instead.
SHOW DATABASES;
nameName of configured database entry.
hostHost pgbouncer connects to.
portPort pgbouncer connects to.
databaseActual database name pgbouncer connects to.
force_userWhen user is part of the connection string, the connection between pgbouncer and Postgres Pro is forced to the given user, whatever the client user.
pool_sizeMaximum number of server connections.
pool_modeThe database's override pool_mode, or
NULLif the default will be used instead.
SHOW FDS;
Internal command — shows list of file descriptors (FDs) in use with internal state attached to them.
When the connected user has username pgbouncer, connects through Unix socket and has same UID as running process, the actual FDs are passed over the connection. This mechanism is used to do an online restart.
Note
This does not work on Windows systems.
This command also blocks internal event loop, so it should not be used while pgbouncer is in use.
fdFile descriptor numeric value.
taskOne of
pooler,clientorserver.userUser of the connection using the FD.
databaseDatabase of the connection using the FD.
addrIP address of the connection using the FD,
unixif a Unix socket is used.portPort used by the connection using the FD.
cancelCancel key for this connection.
linkFile descriptor for corresponding server/client.
NULLif idle.
SHOW CONFIG;
Show the current configuration settings, one per row, with following columns:
keyConfiguration variable name.
valueConfiguration value.
changeableEither
yesorno, shows if the variable can be changed while running. Ifno, the variable can be changed only boot-time.
SHOW DNS_HOSTS;
Show hostnames in DNS cache.
hostnameHost name.
ttlHow many seconds until next lookup.
addrsComma separated list of addresses.
SHOW DNS_ZONES
Show DNS zones in cache.
zonenameZone name.
serialCurrent serial.
countHostnames belonging to this zone.
Process Controlling Commands
PAUSE [db];
pgbouncer tries to disconnect from all servers, first waiting for all queries to complete. The command will not return before all queries are finished. To be used at the time of database restart.
If database name is given, only that database will be paused.
DISABLE db;
Reject all new client connections on the given database.
ENABLE db;
Allow new client connections after a previous DISABLE command.
KILL db;
Immediately drop all client and server connections on given database.
SUSPEND;
All socket buffers are flushed and pgbouncer stops listening for data on them. The command will not return before all buffers are empty. To be used at the time of pgbouncer online reboot.
RESUME [db];
Resume work from previous PAUSE or SUSPEND command.
SHUTDOWN;
The pgbouncer process will exit.
RELOAD;
The pgbouncer process will reload its configuration file and update changeable settings.
Signals
SIGHUPReload config. Same as issuing command
RELOAD;on console.SIGINTSafe shutdown. Same as issuing
PAUSE;andSHUTDOWN;on console.SIGTERMImmediate shutdown. Same as issuing
SHUTDOWN;on console.
Libevent Settings
From libevent docs:
It is possible to disable support for
epoll,kqueue,devpoll,poll, orselectby setting the environment variableEVENT_NOEPOLL,EVENT_NOKQUEUE,EVENT_NODEVPOLL,EVENT_NOPOLLorEVENT_NOSELECT, respectively.By setting the environment variable
EVENT_SHOW_METHOD,libeventdisplays the kernel notification method that it uses.
pgbouncer.ini Configuration File
Configuration file is in the .ini format. Section names are between "[" and "]". Lines starting with ";" or "#" are taken as comments and ignored. The characters ";" and "#" are not recognized when they appear later in the line.
Generic Settings
logfileSpecifies log file. Log file is kept open so after rotation
kill -HUPor on consoleRELOAD;should be done. Note: On Windows systems, the service must be stopped and started.Default: not set.
pidfileSpecifies the PID file. Without a
pidfile, daemonization is not allowed.Default: not set.
listen_addrSpecifies list of addresses, where to listen for TCP connections. You may also use
*meaning "listen on all addresses". When not set, only Unix socket connections are allowed.Addresses can be specified numerically (IPv4/IPv6) or by name.
Default: not set.
listen_portWhich port to listen on. Applies to both TCP and Unix sockets.
Default: 6432
unix_socket_dirSpecifies location for Unix sockets. Applies to both listening socket and server connections. If set to an empty string, Unix sockets are disabled. Required for online reboot (-R) to work. Note: Not supported on Windows systems.
Default: /tmp
unix_socket_modeFilesystem mode for Unix socket.
Default: 0777
unix_socket_groupGroup name to use for Unix socket.
Default: not set
userIf set, specifies the Unix user to change to after startup. Works only if pgbouncer is started as root or if it's already running as given user.
Note: Not supported on Windows systems.
Default: not set
auth_fileThe name of the file to load user names and passwords from. The file format is the same as the PostgreSQL 8.x
pg_auth/pg_pwdfile, so this setting can be pointed directly to one of those backend files. Since version 9.0, PostgreSQL does not use such text file, so it must be generated manually. See the section called “Authentication File Format” for details.Default: not set.
auth_hba_fileHBA configuration file to use when
auth_typeishba. Supported from version 1.7 onwards.Default: not set
auth_typeHow to authenticate users.
pamPluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) method is used to authenticate users,
auth_fileis ignored. This method is not compatible with databases usingauth_useroption. Service name reported to PAM ispgbouncer. Also, PAM is still not supported in HBA configuration file.hbaActual authentication type is loaded from
auth_hba_file. This allows different authentication methods different access paths. Example: connection over Unix socket usespeerauthentication method, connection over TCP must use TLS. Supported from version 1.7 onwards.certClient must connect over TLS connection with valid client certificate. Username is then taken from CommonName field from certificate.
md5Use MD5-based password check.
auth_filemay contain both MD5-encrypted or plain-text passwords. This is the default authentication method.plainClear-text password is sent over wire. Deprecated.
trustNo authentication is done. Username must still exist in
auth_file.anyLike the
trustmethod, but the username given is ignored. Requires that all databases are configured to log in as specific user. Additionally, the console database allows any user to log in as admin.
auth_queryQuery to load user's password from database.
Direct access to
pg_shadowrequires admin rights. It's preferable to use non-admin user that calls SECURITY DEFINER function instead.Note that the query is run inside target database, so if a function is used it needs to be installed into each database.
Default:
SELECT usename, passwd FROM pg_shadow WHERE usename=$1pool_modeSpecifies when a server connection can be reused by other clients.
sessionServer is released back to pool after client disconnects. Default.
transactionServer is released back to pool after transaction finishes.
statementServer is released back to pool after query finishes. Long transactions spanning multiple statements are disallowed in this mode.
max_client_connMaximum number of client connections allowed. When increased, the file descriptor limits should also be increased. Note that actual number of file descriptors used is more than
max_client_conn. If each user connects under its own username to server, theoretical maximum used is:max_client_conn + (max_pool_size * total_databases * total_users)
If a database user is specified in connect string (all users connect under same username), the theoretical maximum is:
max_client_conn + (max_pool_size * total_databases)
The theoretical maximum should be never reached, unless somebody deliberately crafts special load for it. Still, it means you should set the number of file descriptors to a safely high number.
Search for
ulimitin your favourite shell man page. Note:ulimitdoes not apply in a Windows environment.Default: 100
default_pool_sizeHow many server connections to allow per user/database pair. Can be overridden in the per-database configuration.
Default: 20
min_pool_sizeAdd more server connections to pool if below this number. Improves behaviour when usual load suddenly comes back after a period of total inactivity.
Default: 0 (disabled)
reserve_pool_sizeHow many additional connections to allow to a pool. The 0 value disables this parameter.
Default: 0 (disabled)
reserve_pool_timeoutIf a client has not been serviced in this many seconds, pgbouncer enables use of additional connections from reserve pool. The 0 value disables this parameter.
Default: 5.0
max_db_connectionsDo not allow more than this many connections per-database (regardless of pool — i.e. user). It should be noted that when you hit the limit, closing a client connection to one pool will not immediately allow a server connection to be established for another pool, because the server connection for the first pool is still open. Once the server connection closes (due to idle timeout), a new server connection will immediately be opened for the waiting pool.
Default: unlimited
max_user_connectionsDo not allow more than this many connections per-user (regardless of pool — i.e. user). It should be noted that when you hit the limit, closing a client connection to one pool will not immediately allow a server connection to be established for another pool, because the server connection for the first pool is still open. Once the server connection closes (due to idle timeout), a new server connection will immediately be opened for the waiting pool.
server_round_robinBy default, pgbouncer reuses server connections in LIFO (last-in, first-out) manner, so that few connections get the most load. This gives best performance if you have a single server serving a database. But if there is TCP round-robin behind a database IP, then it is better if pgbouncer also uses connections in that manner, thus achieving uniform load.
Default: 0
ignore_startup_parametersBy default, pgbouncer allows only parameters it can keep track of in startup packets —
client_encoding,datestyle,timezoneandstandard_conforming_strings.All other parameters will raise an error. To allow other parameters, they can be specified here, so that pgbouncer knows that they are handled by admin and it can ignore them.
Default: empty
disable_pqexecDisable Simple Query protocol (PQexec). Unlike Extended Query protocol, Simple Query allows multiple queries in one packet, which allows some classes of SQL-injection attacks. Disabling it can improve security. Obviously this means only clients that exclusively use Extended Query protocol will stay working.
Default: 0
application_name_add_hostAdd the client host address and port to the application name setting set on connection start. This helps in identifying the source of bad queries, etc. This logic applies only on start of connection, if
application_nameis later changed withSET, pgbouncer does not change it again.Default: 0
conffileShow location of current configuration file. Changing it will make pgbouncer use another configuration file for next
RELOAD/SIGHUP.Default: file from command line.
service_nameUsed on win32 service registration.
Default: pgbouncer
job_nameAlias for
service_name.
Log Settings
syslogToggles syslog on/off. On Windows systems, eventlog is used instead.
Default: 0
syslog_identUnder what name to send logs to syslog.
Default:
pgbouncer(program name)syslog_facilityUnder what facility to send logs to syslog. Possibilities:
auth,authpriv,daemon,user,local0-7.Default: daemon
log_connectionsLog successful logins.
Default: 1
log_disconnectionsLog disconnections with reasons.
Default: 1
log_pooler_errorsLog error messages pooler sends to clients.
Default: 1
stats_periodPeriod for writing aggregated stats into log.
Default: 60
verboseIncrease verbosity. Mirrors "-v" switch on command line. Using "-v -v" on command line is same as
verbose=2in configuration file.Default: 0
Console Access Control
admin_usersComma-separated list of database users that are allowed to connect and run all commands on console. Ignored when
auth_typeisany, in which case any username is allowed in as admin.Default: empty
stats_usersComma-separated list of database users that are allowed to connect and run read-only queries on console. Thats means all SHOW commands except SHOW FDS.
Default: empty.
Connection Sanity Checks, Timeouts
server_reset_queryQuery sent to server on connection release, before making it available to other clients. At that moment no transaction is in progress so it should not include
ABORTorROLLBACK.The query is supposed to clean any changes made to database session so that next client gets connection in well-defined state. Default is
DISCARD ALLwhich cleans everything, but that leaves next client no pre-cached state. It can be made lighter, e.g.DEALLOCATE ALLto just drop prepared statements, if application does not break when some state is kept around.When transaction pooling is used, the
server_reset_queryis not used, as clients must not use any session-based features as each transaction ends up in different connection and thus gets different session state.Default: DISCARD ALL
server_reset_query_alwaysWhether
server_reset_queryshould be run in all pooling modes. When this setting is off (default), theserver_reset_querywill be run only in pools that are in sessions-pooling mode. Connections in transaction-pooling mode should not have any need for reset query.It is workaround for broken setups that run apps that use session features over transaction-pooled pgbouncer. It changes non-deterministic breakage to deterministic breakage — client always lose their state after each transaction.
Default: 0
server_check_delayHow long to keep released connections available for immediate re-use, without running sanity-check queries on it. If 0 then the query is always run.
Default: 30.0
server_check_querySimple do-nothing query to check if the server connection is alive.
If an empty string, then sanity checking is disabled.
Default: SELECT 1;
server_lifetimepgbouncer will try to close server connections that have been connected longer than this. Setting it to 0 means the connection is to be used only once, then closed. [seconds]
Default: 3600.0
server_idle_timeoutIf a server connection has been idle more than this many seconds it will be dropped. If 0 then timeout is disabled. [seconds]
Default: 600.0
server_connect_timeoutIf connection and login won't finish in this amount of time, the connection will be closed. [seconds]
Default: 15.0
server_login_retryIf login failed, because of failure from connect() or authentication that pooler waits this much before retrying to connect. [seconds]
Default: 15.0
client_login_timeoutIf a client connects but does not manage to login in this amount of time, it will be disconnected. Mainly needed to avoid dead connections stalling SUSPEND and thus online restart. [seconds]
Default: 60.0
autodb_idle_timeoutIf the automatically created (via "*") database pools have been unused this many seconds, they are freed. The negative aspect of that is that their statistics are also forgotten. [seconds]
Default: 3600.0
dns_max_ttlHow long the DNS lookups can be cached. If a DNS lookup returns several answers, pgbouncer will robin-between them in the meantime. Actual DNS TTL is ignored. [seconds]
Default: 15.0
dns_nxdomain_ttlHow long error and NXDOMAIN DNS lookups can be cached. [seconds]
Default: 15.0
dns_zone_check_periodPeriod to check if zone serial has changed.
pgbouncer can collect DNS zones from hostnames (everything after first dot) and then periodically check if zone serial changes. If it notices changes, all hostnames under that zone are looked up again. If any host IP changes, it's connections are invalidated.
Works only with UDNS backend (
--with-udnsto configure).Default: 0.0 (disabled)
TLS Settings
client_tls_sslmodeTLS mode to use for connections from clients. TLS connections are disabled by default. When enabled,
client_tls_key_fileandclient_tls_cert_filemust be also configured to set up key and cert pgbouncer uses to accept client connections.disablePlain TCP. If client requests TLS, it's ignored. Default.
allowIf client requests TLS, it is used. If not, plain TCP is used. If client uses client-certificate, it is not validated.
preferSame as
allow.requireClient must use TLS. If not, client connection is rejected. If client uses client-certificate, it is not validated.
verify-caClient must use TLS with valid client certificate.
verify-fullSame as
verify-ca.
client_tls_key_filePrivate key for pgbouncer to accept client connections.
Default: not set.
client_tls_cert_fileCertificate for private key. Clients can validate it.
Default: not set.
client_tls_ca_fileRoot certificate file to validate client certificates.
Default: unset.
client_tls_protocolsWhich TLS protocol versions are allowed. Allowed values:
tlsv1.0,tlsv1.1,tlsv1.2. Shortcuts:all(tlsv1.0,tlsv1.1,tlsv1.2),secure(tlsv1.2),legacy(all).Default:
allclient_tls_ciphersDefault:
fastclient_tls_ecdhcurveElliptic Curve name to use for ECDH key exchanges.
Allowed values:
none(DH is disabled),auto(256-bit ECDH), curve name.Default:
autoclient_tls_dheparamsDHE key exchange type.
Allowed values:
none(DH is disabled),auto(2048-bit DH),legacy(1024-bit DH).Default:
autoserver_tls_sslmodeTLS mode to use for connections to Postgres Pro servers. TLS connections are disabled by default.
disablePlain TCP. TLS is not even requested from server. Default.
preferTLS connection is always requested first from Postgres Pro, when refused connection will be established over plain TCP. Server certificate is not validated.
requireConnection must go over TLS. If server rejects it, plain TCP is not attempted. Server certificate is not validated.
verify-caConnection must go over TLS and server certificate must be valid according to
server_tls_ca_file. Server hostname is not checked against certificate.verify-fullConnection must go over TLS and server certificate must be valid according to
server_tls_ca_file. Server hostname must match certificate info.
server_tls_ca_fileRoot certificate file to validate Postgres Pro server certificates.
Default: unset.
server_tls_key_filePrivate key for pgbouncer to authenticate against Postgres Pro server.
Default: not set.
server_tls_cert_fileCertificate for private key. Postgres Pro server can validate it.
Default: not set.
server_tls_protocolsWhich TLS protocol versions are allowed. Allowed values:
tlsv1.0,tlsv1.1,tlsv1.2. Shortcuts:all(tlsv1.0,tlsv1.1,tlsv1.2),secure(tlsv1.2),legacy(all).Default:
allserver_tls_ciphersDefault:
fast
Dangerous Timeouts
Setting the following timeouts causes unexpected errors.
query_timeoutQueries running longer than that are canceled. This should be used only with slightly smaller server-side
statement_timeout, to apply only for network problems. [seconds]Default: 0.0 (disabled)
query_wait_timeoutMaximum time queries are allowed to spend waiting for execution. If the query is not assigned to a server during that time, the client is disconnected. This is used to prevent unresponsive servers from grabbing up connections. [seconds]
It also helps when server is down or database rejects connections for any reason. If this is disabled, clients will be queued infinitely.
Default: 120
client_idle_timeoutClient connections idling longer than this many seconds are closed. This should be larger than the client-side connection lifetime settings, and only used for network problems. [seconds]
Default: 0.0 (disabled)
idle_transaction_timeoutIf client has been in "idle in transaction" state longer, it will be disconnected. [seconds]
Default: 0.0 (disabled)
Low-Level Network Settings
pkt_bufInternal buffer size for packets. Affects size of TCP packets sent and general memory usage. Actual libpq packets can be larger than this, so, no need to set it large.
Default: 4096
max_packet_sizeMaximum size for Postgres Pro packets that pgbouncer allows through. One packet is either one query or one resultset row. Full resultset can be larger.
Default: 2147483647
listen_backlogBacklog argument for listen(2). Determines how many new unanswered connection attempts are kept in queue. When queue is full, further new connections are dropped.
Default: 128
sbuf_loopcntHow many times to process data on one connection, before proceeding. Without this limit, one connection with a big resultset can stall pgbouncer for a long time. One loop processes one
pkt_bufamount of data. 0 means no limit.Default: 5
suspend_timeoutHow many seconds to wait for buffer flush during SUSPEND or reboot (-R). Connection is dropped if flush does not succeed.
Default: 10
tcp_defer_acceptFor details on this and other TCP options, please see
man 7 tcp.Default: 45 on Linux, otherwise 0
tcp_socket_bufferDefault: not set
tcp_keepaliveTurns on basic keepalive with OS defaults.
On Linux, the system defaults are tcp_keepidle=7200, tcp_keepintvl=75, tcp_keepcnt=9. They are probably similar on other operating systems.
Default: 1
tcp_keepcntDefault: not set
tcp_keepidleDefault: not set
tcp_keepintvlDefault: not set
Section [databases]
This contains key=value pairs where key will be taken as a database name and value as a libpq connect-string style list of key=value pairs. As actual libpq is not used, not all features from libpq can be used (service=, .pgpass).
Database name can contain characters _0-9A-Za-z without quoting. Names that contain other chars need to be quoted with standard SQL ident quoting: double quotes where "" is taken as single quote.
"*" acts as fallback database: if the exact name does not exist, its value is taken as connect string for requested database. Such automatically created database entries are cleaned up if they stay idle longer then the time specified in autodb_idle_timeout parameter.
dbnameDestination database name.
Default: same as client-side database name.
hostHostname or IP address to connect to. Hostnames are resolved on connect time, the result is cached per
dns_max_ttlparameter. If DNS returns several results, they are used in round-robin manner.Default: not set, meaning to use a Unix socket.
portDefault: 5432
user, passwordIf
user=is set, all connections to the destination database will be done with the specified user, meaning that there will be only one pool for this database.Otherwise pgbouncer tries to log into the destination database with client username, meaning that there will be one pool per user.
auth_userIf
auth_useris set, any user not specified inauth_filewill be queried frompg_shadowin the database usingauth_user. Theauth_userpassword will be taken fromauth_file.Direct access to
pg_shadowrequires admin rights. It's preferable to use non-admin user that calls SECURITY DEFINER function instead.pool_sizeSet maximum size of pools for this database. If not set, the
default_pool_sizeis used.connect_queryQuery to be executed after a connection is established, but before allowing the connection to be used by any clients. If the query raises errors, they are logged but ignored otherwise.
pool_modeSet the pool mode specific to this database. If not set, the default pool_mode is used.
max_db_connectionsConfigure a database-wide maximum (i.e. all pools within the database will not have more than this many server connections).
client_encodingAsk specific
client_encodingfrom server.datestyleAsk specific
datestylefrom server.timezoneAsk specific
timezonefrom server.
Section [users]
This contains key=value pairs where key will be taken as a user name and value as a libpq connect-string style list of key=value pairs. As actual libpq is not used, so not all features from libpq can be used.
pool_modeSet the pool mode to be used for all connections from this user. If not set, the database or default pool_mode is used.
Include Directive
The pgbouncer config file can contain include directives, which specify another configuration file to read and process. This allows for splitting the configuration file into physically separate parts. The include directives look like this:
%include filename
If the file name is not absolute path it is taken as relative to current working directory.
Authentication File Format
pgbouncer needs its own user database. The users are loaded from a text file in following format:
"username1" "password" ... "username2" "md5abcdef012342345" ...
There should be at least two fields, surrounded by double quotes. The first field is the username and the second is either a plain-text or a MD5-hidden password. pgbouncer ignores the rest of the line.
This file format is equivalent to text files used by PostgreSQL 8.x for authentication info, thus allowing pgbouncer to work directly on PostgreSQL authentication files in data directory.
Since PostgreSQL 9.0, the text files are not used anymore. Thus, the authentication file needs to be generated. See ./etc/mkauth.py for sample script to generate authentication file from pg_shadow table.
Postgres Pro MD5-hidden password format:
"md5" + md5(password + username)
So user admin with password 1234 will have MD5-hidden password md545f2603610af569b6155c45067268c6b.
HBA File Format
It follows the format of Postgres Pro pg_hba.conf file described in Section 21.1.
There are following differences:
Supported record types:
local,host,hostssl,hostnossl.Database field: Supports
all,sameuser, @file, multiple names. Not supported:replication,samerole,samegroup.Username field: Supports
all, @file, multiple names. Not supported:+groupname.Address field: Supported
IPv4,IPv6. Not supported: DNS names, domain prefixes.Auth-method field: Supported methods:
trust,reject,md5,password,peer,cert. Not supported:gss,sspi,ident,ldap,radius,pam. Also username map (map=) parameter is not supported.
Example
Minimal config:
[databases] template1 = host=127.0.0.1 dbname=template1 auth_user=someuser [pgbouncer] pool_mode = session listen_port = 6543 listen_addr = 127.0.0.1 auth_type = md5 auth_file = users.txt logfile = pgbouncer.log pidfile = pgbouncer.pid admin_users = someuser stats_users = stat_collector
Database defaults:
[databases] ; foodb over Unix socket foodb = ; redirect bardb to bazdb on localhost bardb = host=127.0.0.1 dbname=bazdb ; access to destination database will go with single user forcedb = host=127.0.0.1 port=300 user=baz password=foo client_encoding=UNICODE datestyle=ISO
Example of secure function for auth_query:
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION pgbouncer.user_lookup(in i_username text, out uname text, out phash text)
RETURNS record AS $$
BEGIN
SELECT usename, passwd FROM pg_catalog.pg_shadow
WHERE usename = i_username INTO uname, phash;
RETURN;
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql SECURITY DEFINER;
REVOKE ALL ON FUNCTION pgbouncer.user_lookup(text) FROM public, pgbouncer;
GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION pgbouncer.user_lookup(text) TO pgbouncer;

