Recovering a Failed Master

If the primary master fails, the Greenplum Database system is not accessible and WAL replication stops. Use gpactivatestandby to activate the standby master. Upon activation of the standby master, Greenplum Database reconstructs the master host state at the time of the last successfully committed transaction.

These steps assume a standby master host is configured for the system. See Enabling Master Mirroring.

To activate the standby master

1. Run the gpactivatestandby utility from the standby master host you are activating. For example:

   $ export PGPORT=5432
   $ gpactivatestandby -d /data/master/gpseg-1
   

   Where -d specifies the data directory of the master host you are activating.

   After you activate the standby, it becomes the active or primary master for your Greenplum Database array.

2. After the utility completes, run gpstate with the -b option to display a summary of the system status:

   $ gpstate -b
   

   The master instance status should be Active. When a standby master is not configured, the command displays No master standby configured for the standby master status. If you configured a new standby master, its status is Passive.

3. Optional: If you have not already done so while activating the prior standby master, you can run gpinitstandby on the active master host to configure a new standby master.

   Important

   You must initialize a new standby master to continue providing master mirroring.

   For information about restoring the original master and standby master configuration, see Restoring Master Mirroring After a Recovery.

• Restoring Master Mirroring After a Recovery

Parent topic: Enabling High Availability and Data Consistency Features