Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-06-08 Thread Robert Haas
On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
heikki.linnakan...@enterprisedb.com wrote:
 On 27/05/10 12:39, Dimitri Fontaine wrote:

 Greg Starkgsst...@mit.edu  writes:

 Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
 word to pair it with

 I guess it's replica / origin, per choice of Jan Wieck to be found in
 our catalogs:

  http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-trigger.html

   tgenabled    char

   Controls in which session_replication_role modes the trigger fires.
   O = trigger fires in origin and local modes, D = trigger is
   disabled, R = trigger fires in replica mode, A = trigger fires
   always.

 So that's origin/replica, master/slave, primary/standby, master/standby.

 master/standby is my favorite, and I believe we have a rough consensus on
 that.

 I started to search/replace primary - master, but started to have second
 thoughts when I got to the section in the docs about standby servers:

 http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/warm-standby.html

 Somehow that just doesn't sound as good after s/primary/master, the first
 sentence in particular. I think the reason is that master brings to mind
 an active connection between the master and standby, while primary sounds
 more loosely-coupled.

 Perhaps we should use master/standby when discussing streaming replication,
 and primary/standby when talking about a standby setup in general, possibly
 using file-based log shipping. The distinction is quite vague, so we'll have
 to document both terms as synonyms of each other.

I agree.  I think it might make sense to try to standardize on the use
of master in messages (and GUC variable names) but insisting that we
can never say primary in the docs would make them read very oddly, I
think.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-06-08 Thread Simon Riggs
On Tue, 2010-06-08 at 16:47 -0400, Robert Haas wrote:
 On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
 heikki.linnakan...@enterprisedb.com wrote:
  On 27/05/10 12:39, Dimitri Fontaine wrote:
 
  Greg Starkgsst...@mit.edu  writes:
 
  Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
  word to pair it with
 
  I guess it's replica / origin, per choice of Jan Wieck to be found in
  our catalogs:
 
   http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-trigger.html
 
tgenabledchar
 
Controls in which session_replication_role modes the trigger fires.
O = trigger fires in origin and local modes, D = trigger is
disabled, R = trigger fires in replica mode, A = trigger fires
always.
 
  So that's origin/replica, master/slave, primary/standby, master/standby.
 
  master/standby is my favorite, and I believe we have a rough consensus on
  that.
 
  I started to search/replace primary - master, but started to have second
  thoughts when I got to the section in the docs about standby servers:
 
  http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/warm-standby.html
 
  Somehow that just doesn't sound as good after s/primary/master, the first
  sentence in particular. I think the reason is that master brings to mind
  an active connection between the master and standby, while primary sounds
  more loosely-coupled.
 
  Perhaps we should use master/standby when discussing streaming replication,
  and primary/standby when talking about a standby setup in general, possibly
  using file-based log shipping. The distinction is quite vague, so we'll have
  to document both terms as synonyms of each other.
 
 I agree.  I think it might make sense to try to standardize on the use
 of master in messages (and GUC variable names) but insisting that we
 can never say primary in the docs would make them read very oddly, I
 think.

The reasons the two sets of terms exist is that they aren't completely
opposed. Master/slave is talking about who makes the changes and who
accepts them, whereas primary/standby is talking about who is currently
active and who is available to become active if required. Slony also
talks about origin/subscriber. SR also uses sender/receiver.

Which metaphor we use depends upon which aspect of the system we use. We
could have chosen not to introduce send/receive, but its so obvious and
natural for SR that its worth introducing new terms.

Master/standby sounds like a mixed metaphor to me and harder to
understand as a result.

-- 
 Simon Riggs   www.2ndQuadrant.com


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-27 Thread Dimitri Fontaine
Greg Stark gsst...@mit.edu writes:
 Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
 word to pair it with

I guess it's replica / origin, per choice of Jan Wieck to be found in
our catalogs:

 http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-trigger.html

  tgenabled char 

  Controls in which session_replication_role modes the trigger fires. 
  O = trigger fires in origin and local modes, D = trigger is
  disabled, R = trigger fires in replica mode, A = trigger fires
  always.

So that's origin/replica, master/slave, primary/standby, master/standby.

-- 
dim

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-27 Thread Heikki Linnakangas

On 27/05/10 12:39, Dimitri Fontaine wrote:

Greg Starkgsst...@mit.edu  writes:

Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
word to pair it with


I guess it's replica / origin, per choice of Jan Wieck to be found in
our catalogs:

  http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-trigger.html

   tgenabledchar

   Controls in which session_replication_role modes the trigger fires.
   O = trigger fires in origin and local modes, D = trigger is
   disabled, R = trigger fires in replica mode, A = trigger fires
   always.

So that's origin/replica, master/slave, primary/standby, master/standby.


master/standby is my favourite, and I believe we have a rough consensus 
on that.


I started to search/replace primary - master, but started to have 
second thoughts when I got to the section in the docs about standby servers:


http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/warm-standby.html

Somehow that just doesn't sound as good after s/primary/master, the 
first sentence in particular. I think the reason is that master brings 
to mind an active connection between the master and standby, while 
primary sounds more loosely-coupled.


Perhaps we should use master/standby when discussing streaming 
replication, and primary/standby when talking about a standby setup in 
general, possibly using file-based log shipping. The distinction is 
quite vague, so we'll have to document both terms as synonyms of each other.


Thoughts?

--
  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

--
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-27 Thread Heikki Linnakangas

On 27/05/10 12:39, Dimitri Fontaine wrote:

Greg Starkgsst...@mit.edu  writes:

Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
word to pair it with


I guess it's replica / origin, per choice of Jan Wieck to be found in
our catalogs:

  http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/catalog-pg-trigger.html

   tgenabledchar

   Controls in which session_replication_role modes the trigger fires.
   O = trigger fires in origin and local modes, D = trigger is
   disabled, R = trigger fires in replica mode, A = trigger fires
   always.

So that's origin/replica, master/slave, primary/standby, master/standby.


master/standby is my favorite, and I believe we have a rough consensus 
on that.


I started to search/replace primary - master, but started to have 
second thoughts when I got to the section in the docs about standby servers:


http://developer.postgresql.org/pgdocs/postgres/warm-standby.html

Somehow that just doesn't sound as good after s/primary/master, the 
first sentence in particular. I think the reason is that master brings 
to mind an active connection between the master and standby, while 
primary sounds more loosely-coupled.


Perhaps we should use master/standby when discussing streaming 
replication, and primary/standby when talking about a standby setup in 
general, possibly using file-based log shipping. The distinction is 
quite vague, so we'll have to document both terms as synonyms of each other.


Thoughts?

--
  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

--
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-26 Thread Heikki Linnakangas

On 12/05/10 22:23, Robert Haas wrote:

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Heikki Linnakangas
heikki.linnakan...@enterprisedb.com  wrote:

Tom Lane wrote:

If so, master/standby would probably work.


+1 for master/standby.

It's worth remembering that a standby server might not be actively
connected to a master server. A server that's reading WAL from an
archive backup, for example, can be put to standby mode. Standby
covers that case too, better than slave.


So does this mean we should rename primary_conninfo?


Yes, I think it does. I'll change it tomorrow, barring objections or 
someone else changing it first.


--
  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

--
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-26 Thread Greg Stark
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 8:00 PM, Simon Riggs si...@2ndquadrant.com wrote:
 On Wed, 2010-05-12 at 19:33 +0300, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
 The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
 mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
 adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?

 Never user the term secondary myself.

 I deliberately use standby rather than slave, to differentiate
 between an exact replica and a synchronised copy (respectively).


Fwiw I like the word replica but I don't see an obvious choice of
word to pair it with


-- 
greg

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread David Fetter
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 07:33:53PM +0300, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
 The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
 mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
 adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?

How about origin/subscriber?  More descriptive than primary/secondary,
and less tied to a particular model of interaction.

Cheers,
David.
-- 
David Fetter da...@fetter.org http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778  AIM: dfetter666  Yahoo!: dfetter
Skype: davidfetter  XMPP: david.fet...@gmail.com
iCal: webcal://www.tripit.com/feed/ical/people/david74/tripit.ics

Remember to vote!
Consider donating to Postgres: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Tom Lane
Peter Eisentraut pete...@gmx.net writes:
 The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
 mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
 adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?

Primary/secondary seem like a poor choice because they're such generic
terms.  Master/slave is the common terminology for this, I think,
though some might object on grounds of political incorrectness.
If so, master/standby would probably work.

regards, tom lane

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Kevin Grittner
David Fetter da...@fetter.org wrote:
 
 How about origin/subscriber?
 
Seems like a mixed metaphor.  Publisher normally goes with
subscriber.  I've heard and used origin and replica.
 
Are we planning to support a subscriber which also publishes (to
randomly pick one for purposes of discussion)?  If so, that should
be considered in our choice of terminology.
 
-Kevin

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Joshua D. Drake
On Wed, 2010-05-12 at 09:37 -0700, David Fetter wrote:
 On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 07:33:53PM +0300, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
  The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
  mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
  adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?
 
 How about origin/subscriber?  More descriptive than primary/secondary,
 and less tied to a particular model of interaction.

Yes but completely out of scope within the market. Master/Slave or
Master/Standby is probably where it needs to be.

Joshua D. Drake



-- 
PostgreSQL.org Major Contributor
Command Prompt, Inc: http://www.commandprompt.com/ - 503.667.4564
Consulting, Training, Support, Custom Development, Engineering



-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Heikki Linnakangas
Tom Lane wrote:
 If so, master/standby would probably work.

+1 for master/standby.

It's worth remembering that a standby server might not be actively
connected to a master server. A server that's reading WAL from an
archive backup, for example, can be put to standby mode. Standby
covers that case too, better than slave.

-- 
  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Simon Riggs
On Wed, 2010-05-12 at 19:33 +0300, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
 The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
 mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
 adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?

Never user the term secondary myself.

I deliberately use standby rather than slave, to differentiate
between an exact replica and a synchronised copy (respectively).

I use the terms primary and master more freely but generally try to
use primary/standby and master/slave together. If you wanted to move to
just one, it would be master, though we'd need to have a good
explanation of primary in the index.

-- 
 Simon Riggs   www.2ndQuadrant.com


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Robert Haas
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Heikki Linnakangas
heikki.linnakan...@enterprisedb.com wrote:
 Tom Lane wrote:
 If so, master/standby would probably work.

 +1 for master/standby.

 It's worth remembering that a standby server might not be actively
 connected to a master server. A server that's reading WAL from an
 archive backup, for example, can be put to standby mode. Standby
 covers that case too, better than slave.

So does this mean we should rename primary_conninfo?

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Bruce Momjian
Tom Lane wrote:
 Peter Eisentraut pete...@gmx.net writes:
  The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
  mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
  adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?
 
 Primary/secondary seem like a poor choice because they're such generic
 terms.  Master/slave is the common terminology for this, I think,
 though some might object on grounds of political incorrectness.
 If so, master/standby would probably work.

I have always been unclear if a slave indicates it accepts read-only
queries, i.e. are slave and standby interchangable?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  br...@momjian.ushttp://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers


Re: [HACKERS] primary/secondary/master/slave/standby

2010-05-12 Thread Robert Haas
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 5:44 PM, Bruce Momjian br...@momjian.us wrote:
 Tom Lane wrote:
 Peter Eisentraut pete...@gmx.net writes:
  The server's messages and the documentation uses all of these terms in
  mixed ways.  Maybe we could decide on some preferred terminology and
  adjust the existing texts.  Ideas?

 Primary/secondary seem like a poor choice because they're such generic
 terms.  Master/slave is the common terminology for this, I think,
 though some might object on grounds of political incorrectness.
 If so, master/standby would probably work.

 I have always been unclear if a slave indicates it accepts read-only
 queries, i.e. are slave and standby interchangable?

We had a long discussion of this topic last summer:

http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2009-08/msg00870.php

I still think Peter's right, but there were contrary opinions.  Still,
the discussion is an interesting read.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company

-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers