Database Lab Engine configuration reference

Overview

Database Lab Engine behavior can be controlled using the main configuration file that has YAML format. This reference describes available configuration options.

Example config files can be found here: https://gitlab.com/postgres-ai/database-lab/-/tree/v2.2/configs.

Useful guides that help manage Database Lab Engine:

• How to configure and start Database Lab Engine
• Reconfigure Database Lab Engine without downtime

tip

The configuration of Database Lab Engine can be reloaded without downtime:

docker exec -it dblab_test kill -SIGHUP 1

The list of configuration sections

Here is how the configuration file is structured:

Section	Description
global	Global parameters such as path to data directory or enabling debugging.
server	Database Lab Engine API server.
poolManager	Manages filesystem pools or volume groups.
provision	How thin cloning is organized.
retrieval	Defines the data flow: a series of "jobs" for initial retrieval of the data, and, optionally, continuous data synchronization with the source, snapshot creation and retention policies. The initial retrieval may be either "logical" (dump/restore) or "physical" (based on replication or restoration from a archive).
cloning	Thin cloning policies.
platform	Postgres.ai Platform integration (provides GUI, advanced features such as user management, logs).
observer	CI Observer configuration. CI Observer helps verify database schema changes (database migrations) automatically, in CI/CD pipelines. Available on the Postgres.ai Platform.

Section global: global parameters

• engine - defines the Database Lab Engine. Supported engines: postgres
• debug - allows seeing more in the Database Lab Engine logs
• database (key-value, optional) - contains default configuration options of the restored database
  • username (string, optional, default: "postgres") - a default username for logical/physical restore jobs
  • dbname (string, optional, default: "postgres") - a default database name for logical/physical restore jobs

Section server: Database Lab Engine API server

• verificationToken (string, required) - the token that is used to work with Database Lab API
• host (string, optional, default: "") - the host to which the Database Lab server accepts HTTP connections
• port (string, required) - HTTP server port

Section poolManager: filesystem pools or volume groups management

• mountDir (string, required) - specifies the location of the pools mount directory (can contain multiple pool directories)
• dataSubDir (string, optional, default: "") - specifies the location of restored data by Database Lab Engine relative to the pool which is placed inside the mount directory (mountDir)
• clonesMountSubDir (string, required) - the directory that will be used to mount clones
• socketSubDir (string, required) - the UNIX socket directory that will be used to establish local connections to cloned databases
• preSnapshotSuffix (string, required) - the suffix to denote preliminary snapshots

Section provision: thin cloning environment settings

• portPool (key-value, required) - defines a pool of ports for Postgres clones
  • from (integer, required) - the lowest port value in the pool
  • to (integer, required) - the highest port value in the pool
• dockerImage (string, required) - the Postgres Docker image that to be used when cloning
• useSudo (boolean, optional, default: false) - use sudo for ZFS/LVM and Docker commands if Database Lab server running outside a container
• keepUserPasswords (bool, optional, default: "false") - By default, in addition to creating a new user with administrative privileges, Database Lab Engine resets passwords for all existing users. This is done for security reasons. If this behavior is undesirable and you want to keep the ability authenticate for the existing users with their unchanged passwords, then set the value of the variable to true.
• containerConfig (key-value, optional) - options to pass custom parameters to clone containers

Section retrieval: data retrieval

• refresh (key-value, optional) - describes configuration for a full refresh.
  • timetable (string, optional, default: "") - defines a timetable in crontab format: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron#Overview
• jobs (list, optional) - declares the set of running jobs. Stages must be defined in the spec section
• spec (key-value, optional) - contains a configuration spec for each job

Data retrieval jobs

Available job names:

• logicalDump
• logicalRestore
• logicalSnapshot
• physicalRestore
• physicalSnapshot

info

You need to choose either "logical" or "physical" set of jobs. Mixing is not allowed

Note, that all jobs are optional. For example, all of the following approaches defining the initial data retrieval process are allowed:

• You may consider using both logicalDump and logicalRestore to make a dump to a file and then restore from it
• You may use only logicalRestore and restore from an already prepared dump file
• You may use only logicalDump, without logicalRestore (however, this approach makes sense only if you define immediateRestore option in the logicalDump job, to perform dump & restore on-the-fly, without saving the dump to a file)

Job logicalDump

Dumps a PostgreSQL database from a provided source to an archive or to the Database Lab Engine instance.

Options:

• dumpLocation (string, required) - the dump file (or directory, for a directory-format archive) will be automatically created on this location on the host machine
• dockerImage (string, required) - specifies the Docker image containing the dump-required tool
• source (key-value, required) - describes source of data:
  • type (string, required) - defines location type of a dumped database. Available values: local, remote, rdsIam
  • connection (key-value, required) - defines connection parameters of source:
    • dbname (string, required) - defines the database dbname to be restored
    • host (string, required) - defines hostname of the database
    • port (integer, optional, default: 5432) - defines port of the database
    • username (string, optional, default: postgres) - defines database username to connect to the database
    • password (string, optional, default: "") - defines username password to connect to the database; the environment variable PGPASSWORD can be used instead of this option; the environment variable has a higher priority
  • rdsIam (key-value, optional) - contains options specific for RDS IAM source type
    • awsRegion (string, required) - AWS Region where RDS is located
    • dbInstanceIdentifier (string, required) - RDS instance Identifier
    • sslRootCert (string, required) - path on the host machine to the SSL root certificate. You can download it from https://s3.amazonaws.com/rds-downloads/rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem
• parallelJobs (integer, optional, default: 1) - defines the number of concurrent jobs using the pg_dump option jobs. This option can dramatically reduce the time to dump a large database
• partial (key-value, optional) - defines options for partial dumping. Available options: tables:
  • tables (list of strings, optional) - dumps definition and/or data of only the listed tables
• immediateRestore (key-value, optional) - provides options for direct restore to a Database Lab Engine instance.
  • forceInit (boolean, optional, default: false) - init data even if the Postgres directory (see the configuration options global.mountDir and global.dataSubDir) is not empty; note the existing data might be overwritten

Job logicalRestore

Restores a PostgreSQL database from an archive created by pg_dump in one of the non-plain-text formats.

Options:

• dbname (string, required) - defines the database dbname to be restored
• dumpLocation (string, required) - specifies the location of the archive file (or directory, for a directory-format archive) on the host machine to be restored
• dockerImage (string, required) - specifies the Docker image containing the restore-required tool
• forceInit (boolean, optional, default: false) - init data even if the Postgres directory (see the configuration options global.mountDir and global.dataSubDir) is not empty; note the existing data might be overwritten
• parallelJobs (integer, optional, default: 1) - defines the number of concurrent jobs using the pg_restore option jobs. This option can dramatically reduce the time to restore a large database to a server running on a multiprocessor machine
• partial (key-value, optional) - defines options for partial restoring. Available options: tables:
  • tables (list of strings, optional) - restores definition and/or data of only the listed tables

Job logicalSnapshot

Prepares a snapshot for logical restored PostgreSQL database.

Options:

• dataPatching (key-value, optional) - defines SQL queries for data patching
  • dockerImage (string, optional) - specifies the Docker image to run a data patching container
  • queryPreprocessing (key-value, optional) - defines pre-processing parameters
    • queryPath (string, optional, default: "") - specifies the path to SQL pre-processing queries; an empty string means that no pre-processing defined
    • maxParallelWorkers (integer, optional, default: 2) - defines the worker limit for parallel queries
• preprocessingScript (string, optional) - path on the host machine to a pre-precessing script
• configs (key-value, optional) - applies PostgreSQL configuration parameters when preparing a working snapshot. These parameters are inherited by all clones. See also: How to configure PostgreSQL used by Database Lab Engine

Job physicalRestore

Restores data from a physical backup.

Supported restore tools:

• WAL-G (walg) - is an archival restoration tool (https://github.com/wal-g/wal-g)
• Custom (custom) - allows defining own command to restore data

Options:

• tool (string, required) - defines the tool to restore data. See available restore tools list
• dockerImage (string, required) - specifies the Docker image containing the restoring tool
• sync (key-value, optional) - refresh PGDATA after data fetching:
  • enabled (boolean, optional, default: false) - runs a separate container to refresh Database Lab data
  • healthCheck (key-value, optional) - describes health check options for a sync container:
    • interval (int, optional, default: 5) - health check interval for a data sync container (in seconds)
    • maxRetries (int, optional, default: 200) - maximum number of health check retries
  • configs (key-value, optional) - applies PostgreSQL configuration parameters to the sync instance
• envs (key-value, optional) - passes custom environment variables to the Docker container with the restoring tool
• walg (key-value, optional) - defines WAL-G configuration options:
  • backupName (string, required) - defines the backup name to restore
• customTool (key-value, optional) - defines configuration options for custom restoring tool:
  • command (string, required) - defines the command to restore data using a custom tool
  • restore_command (string, optional) - defines the PostgreSQL restore_command configuration option to refresh data; Database Lab Engine automatically propagates the specified value to the proper location, depending on the version of PostgreSQL: in versions 11 and older, it is to be stored in recovery.conf, while in 12 and newer, it is a part of the main file, postgresql.conf

Job physicalSnapshot

Prepares a snapshot for physical restored PostgreSQL database.

Options:

• skipStartSnapshot (boolean, optional, default: false) - skip taking a snapshot while the retrieval starts
• promotion (key-value, optional) - promotes PGDATA after data fetching:
  • enabled (boolean, optional, default: false) - enable PGDATA promotion
  • dockerImage (string, optional) - specifies the Docker image containing the promotion-compatible PostgreSQL instance
  • healthCheck (key-value, optional) - describes health check options for a data promotion container:
    • interval (int, optional, default: 5) - health check interval for a data promotion container (in seconds)
    • maxRetries (int, optional, default: 200) - maximum number of health check retries
  • queryPreprocessing (key-value, optional) - defines pre-processing SQL queries
    • queryPath (string, optional, default: "") - specifies the path to SQL pre-processing queries; an empty string means that no pre-processing defined
    • maxParallelWorkers (integer, optional, default: 2) - defines the worker limit for parallel queries
  • configs (key-value, optional) - applies PostgreSQL configuration parameters to the promotion instance
• sysctls (key-value, optional) - allows configuring namespaced kernel parameters (sysctls) of Docker container for a promotion stage of taking a snapshot. See supported parameters: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/run/#configure-namespaced-kernel-parameters-sysctls-at-runtime
• preprocessingScript (string, optional) - path on the host machine to a pre-precessing script
• configs (key-value, optional) - applies PostgreSQL configuration parameters to snapshot. These parameters are inherited by all clones. See also: How to configure PostgreSQL used by Database Lab Engine
• envs (key-value, optional) - passes custom environment variables to the promotion Docker container
• scheduler (key-value, required) - contains tasks which run on a schedule:
  • snapshot (key-value, optional) - defines rules to create a new snapshot on a schedule:
    • timetable (string, required) - defines a timetable in crontab format: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron#Overview
  • retention (key-value, optional) - defines rules to clean up old snapshots on a schedule:
    • timetable (string, required) - defines a timetable in crontab format: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron#Overview
    • limit (integer, required) - defines how many snapshots should be held

Section cloning: thin cloning policies

• accessHost (string, required) - the host that will be specified in the database connection string to inform users about how to connect to database clones
• maxIdleMinutes (integer, optional, default: 0) - automatically delete clones after the specified minutes of inactivity

Section platform: Postgres.ai Platform integration

• url (string, optional, default: "https://postgres.ai/api/general") - Platform API URL
• accessToken (string, required) - the token for authorization in Platform API. This token can be obtained on the Postgres.ai Console
• enablePersonalTokens (boolean, optional, default: false) - enables authorization with personal tokens of the organization's members

Section observer: CI Observer configuration

• replacementRules (key-value, optional) - set up rules based on regular expressions (a pair of values "regexp":"replace"; to check syntax, use this document) for Postgres logs that will be sent to the Platform when running Observed Sessions; this helps ensure that sensitive data is masked properly and it doesn't leave the origin Replacement rules applies to the following log fields: message, detail, hint, internal_query, query