pg_resetxlog — reset the write-ahead log and other control information of a PostgreSQL™ database cluster
pg_resetxlog
[-f
] [-n
] [-o
oid
] [-x
xid
] [-e
xid_epoch
] [-m
mxid
,mxid
] [-O
mxoff
] [-l
xlogfile
] datadir
pg_resetxlog clears the write-ahead log (WAL) and
optionally resets some other control information stored in the
pg_control
file. This function is sometimes needed
if these files have become corrupted. It should be used only as a
last resort, when the server will not start due to such corruption.
After running this command, it should be possible to start the server, but bear in mind that the database might contain inconsistent data due to partially-committed transactions. You should immediately dump your data, run initdb, and reload. After reload, check for inconsistencies and repair as needed.
This utility can only be run by the user who installed the server, because
it requires read/write access to the data directory.
For safety reasons, you must specify the data directory on the command line.
pg_resetxlog does not use the environment variable
PGDATA
.
If pg_resetxlog complains that it cannot determine
valid data for pg_control
, you can force it to proceed anyway
by specifying the -f
(force) option. In this case plausible
values will be substituted for the missing data. Most of the fields can be
expected to match, but manual assistance might be needed for the next OID,
next transaction ID and epoch, next multitransaction ID and offset, and
WAL starting address fields. These fields can be set using the options
discussed below. If you are not able to determine correct values for all
these fields, -f
can still be used, but
the recovered database must be treated with even more suspicion than
usual: an immediate dump and reload is imperative. Do not
execute any data-modifying operations in the database before you dump,
as any such action is likely to make the corruption worse.
The -o
, -x
, -e
,
-m
, -O
,
and -l
options allow the next OID, next transaction ID, next transaction ID's
epoch, next and oldest multitransaction ID, next multitransaction offset, and WAL
starting address values to be set manually. These are only needed when
pg_resetxlog is unable to determine appropriate values
by reading pg_control
. Safe values can be determined as
follows:
A safe value for the next transaction ID (-x
)
can be determined by looking for the numerically largest
file name in the directory pg_clog
under the data directory,
adding one,
and then multiplying by 1048576. Note that the file names are in
hexadecimal. It is usually easiest to specify the option value in
hexadecimal too. For example, if 0011
is the largest entry
in pg_clog
, -x 0x1200000
will work (five
trailing zeroes provide the proper multiplier).
A safe value for the next multitransaction ID (first part of -m
)
can be determined by looking for the numerically largest
file name in the directory pg_multixact/offsets
under the
data directory, adding one, and then multiplying by 65536.
Conversely, a safe value for the oldest multitransaction ID (second part of
-m
)
can be determined by looking for the numerically smallest
file name in the same directory and multiplying by 65536.
As above, the file names are in hexadecimal, so the easiest way to do
this is to specify the option value in hexadecimal and append four zeroes.
A safe value for the next multitransaction offset (-O
)
can be determined by looking for the numerically largest
file name in the directory pg_multixact/members
under the
data directory, adding one, and then multiplying by 52352. As above,
the file names are in hexadecimal. There is no simple recipe such as
the ones above of appending zeroes.
The WAL starting address (-l
) should be
larger than any WAL segment file name currently existing in
the directory pg_xlog
under the data directory.
These names are also in hexadecimal and have three parts. The first
part is the “timeline ID” and should usually be kept the same.
For example, if 00000001000000320000004A
is the
largest entry in pg_xlog
, use -l 00000001000000320000004B
or higher.
pg_resetxlog itself looks at the files in
pg_xlog
and chooses a default -l
setting
beyond the last existing file name. Therefore, manual adjustment of
-l
should only be needed if you are aware of WAL segment
files that are not currently present in pg_xlog
, such as
entries in an offline archive; or if the contents of
pg_xlog
have been lost entirely.
There is no comparably easy way to determine a next OID that's beyond the largest one in the database, but fortunately it is not critical to get the next-OID setting right.
The transaction ID epoch is not actually stored anywhere in the database except in the field that is set by pg_resetxlog, so any value will work so far as the database itself is concerned. You might need to adjust this value to ensure that replication systems such as Slony-I work correctly — if so, an appropriate value should be obtainable from the state of the downstream replicated database.
The -n
(no operation) option instructs
pg_resetxlog to print the values reconstructed from
pg_control
and values about to be changed, and then exit
without modifying anything. This is mainly a debugging tool, but can be
useful as a sanity check before allowing pg_resetxlog
to proceed for real.
The -V
and --version
options print
the pg_resetxlog version and exit. The
options -?
and --help
show supported arguments,
and exit.
This command must not be used when the server is running. pg_resetxlog will refuse to start up if it finds a server lock file in the data directory. If the server crashed then a lock file might have been left behind; in that case you can remove the lock file to allow pg_resetxlog to run. But before you do so, make doubly certain that there is no server process still alive.