check_postgres_bloatp - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

check_postgres - a Postgres monitoring script for Nagios, MRTG, Cacti, and others

This documents describes check_postgres version 2.22.0

SYNOPSIS

## Create all symlinks
check_postgres --symlinks

## Check connection to Postgres database 'pluto':
check_postgres --action=connection --db=pluto

## Same things, but using the symlink
check_postgres_connection --db=pluto

## Warn if > 100 locks, critical if > 200, or > 20 exclusive
check_postgres_locks --warning=100 --critical="total=200:exclusive=20"

## Show the current number of idle connections on port 6543:
check_postgres_txn_idle --port=6543 --output=simple

## There are many other actions and options, please keep reading.

The latest news and documentation can always be found at:
http://bucardo.org/check_postgres/

DESCRIPTION

check_postgres is a Perl script that runs many different tests against one or more
Postgres databases. It uses the psql program to gather the information, and outputs the
results in one of three formats: Nagios, MRTG, or simple.

Output Modes
The output can be changed by use of the "--output" option. The default output is nagios,
although this can be changed at the top of the script if you wish. The current option
choices are nagios, mrtg, and simple. To avoid having to enter the output argument each
time, the type of output is automatically set if no --output argument is given, and if the
current directory has one of the output options in its name. For example, creating a
directory named mrtg and populating it with symlinks via the --symlinks argument would
ensure that any actions run from that directory will always default to an output of "mrtg"
As a shortcut for --output=simple, you can enter --simple, which also overrides the
directory naming trick.

Nagios output

The default output format is for Nagios, which is a single line of information, along with
four specific exit codes:

0 (OK)
1 (WARNING)
2 (CRITICAL)
3 (UNKNOWN)

The output line is one of the words above, a colon, and then a short description of what
was measured. Additional statistics information, as well as the total time the command
took, can be output as well: see the documentation on the arguments --showperf,
--perflimit, and --showtime.

MRTG output

The MRTG output is four lines, with the first line always giving a single number of
importance. When possible, this number represents an actual value such as a number of
bytes, but it may also be a 1 or a 0 for actions that only return "true" or "false", such
as check_postgres_version. The second line is an additional stat and is only used for
some actions. The third line indicates an "uptime" and is not used. The fourth line is a
description and usually indicates the name of the database the stat from the first line
was pulled from, but may be different depending on the action.

Some actions accept an optional --mrtg argument to further control the output.

See the documentation on each action for details on the exact MRTG output for each one.

Simple output

The simple output is simply a truncated version of the MRTG one, and simply returns the
first number and nothing else. This is very useful when you just want to check the state
of something, regardless of any threshold. You can transform the numeric output by
appending KB, MB, GB, TB, or EB to the output argument, for example:

--output=simple,MB

Cacti output

The Cacti output consists of one or more items on the same line, with a simple name, a
colon, and then a number. At the moment, the only action with explicit Cacti output is
'dbstats', and using the --output option is not needed in this case, as Cacti is the only
output for this action. For many other actions, using --simple is enough to make Cacti
happy.

DATABASE CONNECTION OPTIONS

All actions accept a common set of database options.

-H NAME or --host=NAME
Connect to the host indicated by NAME. Can be a comma-separated list of names.
Multiple host arguments are allowed. If no host is given, defaults to the "PGHOST"
environment variable or no host at all (which indicates using a local Unix socket).
You may also use "--dbhost".

-p PORT or --port=PORT
Connects using the specified PORT number. Can be a comma-separated list of port
numbers, and multiple port arguments are allowed. If no port number is given, defaults
to the "PGPORT" environment variable. If that is not set, it defaults to 5432. You may
also use "--dbport"

-db NAME or --dbname=NAME
Specifies which database to connect to. Can be a comma-separated list of names, and
multiple dbname arguments are allowed. If no dbname option is provided, defaults to
the "PGDATABASE" environment variable. If that is not set, it defaults to 'postgres'
if psql is version 8 or greater, and 'template1' otherwise.

-u USERNAME or --dbuser=USERNAME
The name of the database user to connect as. Can be a comma-separated list of
usernames, and multiple dbuser arguments are allowed. If this is not provided, it
defaults to the "PGUSER" environment variable, otherwise it defaults to 'postgres'.

--dbpass=PASSWORD
Provides the password to connect to the database with. Use of this option is highly
discouraged. Instead, one should use a .pgpass or pg_service.conf file.

--dbservice=NAME
The name of a service inside of the pg_service.conf file. Before version 9.0 of
Postgres, this is a global file, usually found in /etc/pg_service.conf. If you are
using version 9.0 or higher of Postgres, you can use the file ".pg_service.conf" in
the home directory of the user running the script, e.g. nagios.

This file contains a simple list of connection options. You can also pass additional
information when using this option such as --dbservice="maindatabase sslmode=require"

The documentation for this file can be found at
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-pgservice.html

The database connection options can be grouped: --host=a,b --host=c --port=1234
--port=3344 would connect to a-1234, b-1234, and c-3344. Note that once set, an option
carries over until it is changed again.

Examples:

--host=a,b --port=5433 --db=c
Connects twice to port 5433, using database c, to hosts a and b: a-5433-c b-5433-c

--host=a,b --port=5433 --db=c,d
Connects four times: a-5433-c a-5433-d b-5433-c b-5433-d

--host=a,b --host=foo --port=1234 --port=5433 --db=e,f
Connects six times: a-1234-e a-1234-f b-1234-e b-1234-f foo-5433-e foo-5433-f

--host=a,b --host=x --port=5432,5433 --dbuser=alice --dbuser=bob -db=baz
Connects three times: a-5432-alice-baz b-5433-alice-baz x-5433-bob-baz

--dbservice="foo" --port=5433
Connects using the named service 'foo' in the pg_service.conf file, but overrides the port

OTHER OPTIONS

Other options include:

--action=NAME
States what action we are running. Required unless using a symlinked file, in which
case the name of the file is used to figure out the action.

--warning=VAL or -w VAL
Sets the threshold at which a warning alert is fired. The valid options for this
option depends on the action used.

--critical=VAL or -c VAL
Sets the threshold at which a critical alert is fired. The valid options for this
option depends on the action used.

-t VAL or --timeout=VAL
Sets the timeout in seconds after which the script will abort whatever it is doing and
return an UNKNOWN status. The timeout is per Postgres cluster, not for the entire
script. The default value is 10; the units are always in seconds.

--assume-standby-mode
If specified, first the check if server in standby mode will be performed (--datadir
is required), if so, all checks that require SQL queries will be ignored and "Server
in standby mode" with OK status will be returned instead.

Example:

postgres@db$./check_postgres --action=version --warning=8.1 --datadir /var/lib/postgresql/8.3/main/ --assume-standby-mode
POSTGRES_VERSION OK: Server in standby mode | time=0.00

--assume-prod
If specified, check if server in production mode is performed (--datadir is required).
The option is only relevant for ("symlink: check_postgres_checkpoint").

Example:

postgres@db$./check_postgres --action=checkpoint --datadir /var/lib/postgresql/8.3/main/ --assume-prod
POSTGRES_CHECKPOINT OK: Last checkpoint was 72 seconds ago | age=72;;300 mode=MASTER

-h or --help
Displays a help screen with a summary of all actions and options.

--man
Displays the entire manual.

-V or --version
Shows the current version.

-v or --verbose
Set the verbosity level. Can call more than once to boost the level. Setting it to
three or higher (in other words, issuing "-v -v -v") turns on debugging information
for this program which is sent to stderr.

--showperf=VAL
Determines if we output additional performance data in standard Nagios format (at end
of string, after a pipe symbol, using name=value). VAL should be 0 or 1. The default
is 1. Only takes effect if using Nagios output mode.

--perflimit=i
Sets a limit as to how many items of interest are reported back when using the
showperf option. This only has an effect for actions that return a large number of
items, such as table_size. The default is 0, or no limit. Be careful when using this
with the --include or --exclude options, as those restrictions are done after the
query has been run, and thus your limit may not include the items you want. Only takes
effect if using Nagios output mode.

--showtime=VAL
Determines if the time taken to run each query is shown in the output. VAL should be 0
or 1. The default is 1. No effect unless showperf is on. Only takes effect if using
Nagios output mode.

--test
Enables test mode. See the "TEST MODE" section below.

--PGBINDIR=PATH
Tells the script where to find the psql binaries. Useful if you have more than one
version of the PostgreSQL executables on your system, or if there are not in your
path. Note that this option is in all uppercase. By default, this option is not
allowed. To enable it, you must change the $NO_PSQL_OPTION near the top of the script
to 0. Avoid using this option if you can, and instead use environment variable
c<PGBINDIR> or hard-coded $PGBINDIR variable, also near the top of the script, to set
the path to the PostgreSQL to use.

--PSQL=PATH
(deprecated, this option may be removed in a future release!) Tells the script where
to find the psql program. Useful if you have more than one version of the psql
executable on your system, or if there is no psql program in your path. Note that this
option is in all uppercase. By default, this option is not allowed. To enable it, you
must change the $NO_PSQL_OPTION near the top of the script to 0. Avoid using this
option if you can, and instead hard-code your psql location into the $PSQL variable,
also near the top of the script.

--symlinks
Creates symlinks to the main program for each action.

--output=VAL
Determines the format of the output, for use in various programs. The default is
'nagios'. Available options are 'nagios', 'mrtg', 'simple' and 'cacti'.

--mrtg=VAL
Used only for the MRTG or simple output, for a few specific actions.

--debugoutput=VAL
Outputs the exact string returned by psql, for use in debugging. The value is one or
more letters, which determine if the output is displayed or not, where 'a' = all, 'c'
= critical, 'w' = warning, 'o' = ok, and 'u' = unknown. Letters can be combined.

--get_method=VAL
Allows specification of the method used to fetch information for the "new_version_cp",
"new_version_pg", "new_version_bc", "new_version_box", and "new_version_tnm" checks.
The following programs are tried, in order, to grab the information from the web: GET,
wget, fetch, curl, lynx, links. To force the use of just one (and thus remove the
overhead of trying all the others until one of those works), enter one of the names as
the argument to get_method. For example, a BSD box might enter the following line in
their ".check_postgresrc" file:

get_method=fetch

--language=VAL
Set the language to use for all output messages. Normally, this is detected by
examining the environment variables LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, and LANG, but setting this
option will override any such detection.

ACTIONS

The script runs one or more actions. This can either be done with the --action flag, or by
using a symlink to the main file that contains the name of the action inside of it. For
example, to run the action "timesync", you may either issue:

check_postgres --action=timesync

or use a program named:

check_postgres_timesync

All the symlinks are created for you in the current directory if use the option --symlinks

perl check_postgres --symlinks

If the file name already exists, it will not be overwritten. If the file exists and is a
symlink, you can force it to overwrite by using "--action=build_symlinks_force"

Most actions take a --warning and a --critical option, indicating at what point we change
from OK to WARNING, and what point we go to CRITICAL. Note that because criticals are
always checked first, setting the warning equal to the critical is an effective way to
turn warnings off and always give a critical.

The current supported actions are:

archive_ready
("symlink: check_postgres_archive_ready") Checks how many WAL files with extension .ready
exist in the pg_xlog/archive_status directory, which is found off of your data_directory.
This action must be run as a superuser, in order to access the contents of the
pg_xlog/archive_status directory. The minimum version to use this action is Postgres 8.1.
The --warning and --critical options are simply the number of .ready files in the
pg_xlog/archive_status directory. Usually, these values should be low, turning on the
archive mechanism, we usually want it to archive WAL files as fast as possible.

If the archive command fail, number of WAL in your pg_xlog directory will grow until
exhausting all the disk space and force PostgreSQL to stop immediately.

Example 1: Check that the number of ready WAL files is 10 or less on host "pluto"

check_postgres_archive_ready --host=pluto --critical=10

For MRTG output, reports the number of ready WAL files on line 1.

autovac_freeze
("symlink: check_postgres_autovac_freeze") Checks how close each database is to the
Postgres autovacuum_freeze_max_age setting. This action will only work for databases
version 8.2 or higher. The --warning and --critical options should be expressed as
percentages. The 'age' of the transactions in each database is compared to the
autovacuum_freeze_max_age setting (200 million by default) to generate a rounded
percentage. The default values are 90% for the warning and 95% for the critical. Databases
can be filtered by use of the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING"
section for more details.

Example 1: Give a warning when any databases on port 5432 are above 97%

check_postgres_autovac_freeze --port=5432 --warning="97%"

For MRTG output, the highest overall percentage is reported on the first line, and the
highest age is reported on the second line. All databases which have the percentage from
the first line are reported on the fourth line, separated by a pipe symbol.

backends
("symlink: check_postgres_backends") Checks the current number of connections for one or
more databases, and optionally compares it to the maximum allowed, which is determined by
the Postgres configuration variable max_connections. The --warning and --critical options
can take one of three forms. First, a simple number can be given, which represents the
number of connections at which the alert will be given. This choice does not use the
max_connections setting. Second, the percentage of available connections can be given.
Third, a negative number can be given which represents the number of connections left
until max_connections is reached. The default values for --warning and --critical are
'90%' and '95%'. You can also filter the databases by use of the --include and --exclude
options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more details.

To view only non-idle processes, you can use the --noidle argument. Note that the user you
are connecting as must be a superuser for this to work properly.

Example 1: Give a warning when the number of connections on host quirm reaches 120, and a
critical if it reaches 150.

check_postgres_backends --host=quirm --warning=120 --critical=150

Example 2: Give a critical when we reach 75% of our max_connections setting on hosts
lancre or lancre2.

check_postgres_backends --warning='75%' --critical='75%' --host=lancre,lancre2

Example 3: Give a warning when there are only 10 more connection slots left on host
plasmid, and a critical when we have only 5 left.

check_postgres_backends --warning=-10 --critical=-5 --host=plasmid

Example 4: Check all databases except those with "test" in their name, but allow ones that
are named "pg_greatest". Connect as port 5432 on the first two hosts, and as port 5433 on
the third one. We want to always throw a critical when we reach 30 or more connections.

check_postgres_backends --dbhost=hong,kong --dbhost=fooey --dbport=5432 --dbport=5433 --warning=30 --critical=30 --exclude="~test" --include="pg_greatest,~prod"

For MRTG output, the number of connections is reported on the first line, and the fourth
line gives the name of the database, plus the current maximum_connections. If more than
one database has been queried, the one with the highest number of connections is output.

bloat
("symlink: check_postgres_bloat") Checks the amount of bloat in tables and indexes. (Bloat
is generally the amount of dead unused space taken up in a table or index. This space is
usually reclaimed by use of the VACUUM command.) This action requires that stats
collection be enabled on the target databases, and requires that ANALYZE is run
frequently. The --include and --exclude options can be used to filter out which tables to
look at. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more details.

The --warning and --critical options can be specified as sizes, percents, or both. Valid
size units are bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, exabytes, petabytes, and
zettabytes. You can abbreviate all of those with the first letter. Items without units are
assumed to be 'bytes'. The default values are '1 GB' and '5 GB'. The value represents the
number of "wasted bytes", or the difference between what is actually used by the table and
index, and what we compute that it should be.

Note that this action has two hard-coded values to avoid false alarms on smaller
relations. Tables must have at least 10 pages, and indexes at least 15, before they can be
considered by this test. If you really want to adjust these values, you can look for the
variables $MINPAGES and $MINIPAGES at the top of the "check_bloat" subroutine. These
values are ignored if either --exclude or --include is used.

Only the top 10 most bloated relations are shown. You can change this number by using the
--perflimit option to set your own limit.

The schema named 'information_schema' is excluded from this test, as the only tables it
contains are small and do not change.

Please note that the values computed by this action are not precise, and should be used as
a guideline only. Great effort was made to estimate the correct size of a table, but in
the end it is only an estimate. The correct index size is even more of a guess than the
correct table size, but both should give a rough idea of how bloated things are.

Example 1: Warn if any table on port 5432 is over 100 MB bloated, and critical if over 200
MB

check_postgres_bloat --port=5432 --warning='100 M' --critical='200 M'

Example 2: Give a critical if table 'orders' on host 'sami' has more than 10 megs of bloat

check_postgres_bloat --host=sami --include=orders --critical='10 MB'

Example 3: Give a critical if table 'q4' on database 'sales' is over 50% bloated

check_postgres_bloat --db=sales --include=q4 --critical='50%'

Example 4: Give a critical any table is over 20% bloated and has over 150 MB of bloat:

check_postgres_bloat --port=5432 --critical='20% and 150 M'

Example 5: Give a critical any table is over 40% bloated or has over 500 MB of bloat:

check_postgres_bloat --port=5432 --warning='500 M or 40%'

For MRTG output, the first line gives the highest number of wasted bytes for the tables,
and the second line gives the highest number of wasted bytes for the indexes. The fourth
line gives the database name, table name, and index name information. If you want to
output the bloat ratio instead (how many times larger the relation is compared to how
large it should be), just pass in "--mrtg=ratio".

checkpoint
("symlink: check_postgres_checkpoint") Determines how long since the last checkpoint has
been run. This must run on the same server as the database that is being checked (e.g. the
-h flag will not work). This check is meant to run on a "warm standby" server that is
actively processing shipped WAL files, and is meant to check that your warm standby is
truly 'warm'. The data directory must be set, either by the environment variable
"PGDATA", or passing the "--datadir" argument. It returns the number of seconds since the
last checkpoint was run, as determined by parsing the call to "pg_controldata". Because of
this, the pg_controldata executable must be available in the current path. Alternatively,
you can specify "PGBINDIR" as the directory that it lives in. It is also possible to use
the special options --assume-prod or --assume-standby-mode, if the mode found is not the
one expected, a CRITICAL is emitted.

At least one warning or critical argument must be set.

This action requires the Date::Parse module.

For MRTG or simple output, returns the number of seconds.

cluster_id
("symlink: check_postgres_cluster-id") Checks that the Database System Identifier provided
by pg_controldata is the same as last time you checked. This must run on the same server
as the database that is being checked (e.g. the -h flag will not work). Either the
--warning or the --critical option should be given, but not both. The value of each one is
the cluster identifier, an integer value. You can run with the special "--critical=0"
option to find out an existing cluster identifier.

Example 1: Find the initial identifier

check_postgres_cluster_id --critical=0 --datadir=/var//lib/postgresql/9.0/main

Example 2: Make sure the cluster is the same and warn if not, using the result from above.

check_postgres_cluster_id --critical=5633695740047915135

For MRTG output, returns a 1 or 0 indicating success of failure of the identifier to
match. A identifier must be provided as the "--mrtg" argument. The fourth line always
gives the current identifier.

commitratio
("symlink: check_postgres_commitratio") Checks the commit ratio of all databases and
complains when they are too low. There is no need to run this command more than once per
database cluster. Databases can be filtered with the --include and --exclude options. See
the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more details. They can also be filtered by the owner of
the database with the --includeuser and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME
FILTERING" section for more details.

The warning and critical options should be specified as percentages. There are not
defaults for this action: the warning and critical must be specified. The warning value
cannot be greater than the critical value. The output returns all databases sorted by
commitratio, smallest first.

Example: Warn if any database on host flagg is less than 90% in commitratio, and critical
if less then 80%.

check_postgres_database_commitratio --host=flagg --warning='90%' --critical='80%'

For MRTG output, returns the percentage of the database with the smallest commitratio on
the first line, and the name of the database on the fourth line.

connection
("symlink: check_postgres_connection") Simply connects, issues a 'SELECT version()', and
leaves. Takes no --warning or --critical options.

For MRTG output, simply outputs a 1 (good connection) or a 0 (bad connection) on the first
line.

custom_query
("symlink: check_postgres_custom_query") Runs a custom query of your choosing, and parses
the results. The query itself is passed in through the "query" argument, and should be
kept as simple as possible. If at all possible, wrap it in a view or a function to keep
things easier to manage. The query should return one or two columns. It is required that
one of the columns be named "result" and is the item that will be checked against your
warning and critical values. The second column is for the performance data and any name
can be used: this will be the 'value' inside the performance data section.

At least one warning or critical argument must be specified. What these are set to depends
on the type of query you are running. There are four types of custom_queries that can be
run, specified by the "valtype" argument. If none is specified, this action defaults to
'integer'. The four types are:

integer: Does a simple integer comparison. The first column should be a simple integer,
and the warning and critical values should be the same.

string: The warning and critical are strings, and are triggered only if the value in the
first column matches it exactly. This is case-sensitive.

time: The warning and the critical are times, and can have units of seconds, minutes,
hours, or days. Each may be written singular or abbreviated to just the first letter. If
no units are given, seconds are assumed. The first column should be an integer
representing the number of seconds to check.

size: The warning and the critical are sizes, and can have units of bytes, kilobytes,
megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, or exabytes. Each may be abbreviated to the first letter.
If no units are given, bytes are assumed. The first column should be an integer
representing the number of bytes to check.

Normally, an alert is triggered if the values returned are greater than or equal to the
critical or warning value. However, an option of --reverse will trigger the alert if the
returned value is lower than or equal to the critical or warning value.

Example 1: Warn if any relation over 100 pages is named "rad", put the number of pages
inside the performance data section.

check_postgres_custom_query --valtype=string -w "rad" --query=
"SELECT relname AS result, relpages AS pages FROM pg_class WHERE relpages > 100"

Example 2: Give a critical if the "foobar" function returns a number over 5MB:

check_postgres_custom_query --critical='5MB'--valtype=size --query="SELECT foobar() AS result"

Example 2: Warn if the function "snazzo" returns less than 42:

check_postgres_custom_query --critical=42 --query="SELECT snazzo() AS result" --reverse

If you come up with a useful custom_query, consider sending in a patch to this program to
make it into a standard action that other people can use.

This action does not support MRTG or simple output yet.

database_size
("symlink: check_postgres_database_size") Checks the size of all databases and complains
when they are too big. There is no need to run this command more than once per database
cluster. Databases can be filtered with the --include and --exclude options. See the
"BASIC FILTERING" section for more details. They can also be filtered by the owner of the
database with the --includeuser and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING"
section for more details.

The warning and critical options can be specified as bytes, kilobytes, megabytes,
gigabytes, terabytes, or exabytes. Each may be abbreviated to the first letter as well.
If no unit is given, the units are assumed to be bytes. There are not defaults for this
action: the warning and critical must be specified. The warning value cannot be greater
than the critical value. The output returns all databases sorted by size largest first,
showing both raw bytes and a "pretty" version of the size.

Example 1: Warn if any database on host flagg is over 1 TB in size, and critical if over
1.1 TB.

check_postgres_database_size --host=flagg --warning='1 TB' --critical='1.1 t'

Example 2: Give a critical if the database template1 on port 5432 is over 10 MB.

check_postgres_database_size --port=5432 --include=template1 --warning='10MB' --critical='10MB'

Example 3: Give a warning if any database on host 'tardis' owned by the user 'tom' is over
5 GB

check_postgres_database_size --host=tardis --includeuser=tom --warning='5 GB' --critical='10 GB'

For MRTG output, returns the size in bytes of the largest database on the first line, and
the name of the database on the fourth line.

dbstats
("symlink: check_postgres_dbstats") Reports information from the pg_stat_database view,
and outputs it in a Cacti-friendly manner. No other output is supported, as the output is
informational and does not lend itself to alerts, such as used with Nagios. If no options
are given, all databases are returned, one per line. You can include a specific database
by use of the "--include" option, or you can use the "--dbname" option.

Eleven items are returned on each line, in the format name:value, separated by a single
space. The items are:

backends
The number of currently running backends for this database.

commits
The total number of commits for this database since it was created or reset.

rollbacks
The total number of rollbacks for this database since it was created or reset.

read
The total number of disk blocks read.

hit The total number of buffer hits.

ret The total number of rows returned.

fetch
The total number of rows fetched.

ins The total number of rows inserted.

upd The total number of rows updated.

del The total number of rows deleted.

dbname
The name of the database.

Note that ret, fetch, ins, upd, and del items will always be 0 if Postgres is version 8.2
or lower, as those stats were not available in those versions.

If the dbname argument is given, seven additional items are returned:

idxscan
Total number of user index scans.

idxtupread
Total number of user index entries returned.

idxtupfetch
Total number of rows fetched by simple user index scans.

idxblksread
Total number of disk blocks read for all user indexes.

idxblkshit
Total number of buffer hits for all user indexes.

seqscan
Total number of sequential scans against all user tables.

seqtupread
Total number of tuples returned from all user tables.

Example 1: Grab the stats for a database named "products" on host "willow":

check_postgres_dbstats --dbhost willow --dbname products

The output returned will be like this (all on one line, not wrapped):

backends:82 commits:58374408 rollbacks:1651 read:268435543 hit:2920381758 idxscan:310931294 idxtupread:2777040927
idxtupfetch:1840241349 idxblksread:62860110 idxblkshit:1107812216 seqscan:5085305 seqtupread:5370500520
ret:0 fetch:0 ins:0 upd:0 del:0 dbname:willow

disabled_triggers
("symlink: check_postgres_disabled_triggers") Checks on the number of disabled triggers
inside the database. The --warning and --critical options are the number of such triggers
found, and both default to "1", as in normal usage having disabled triggers is a dangerous
event. If the database being checked is 8.3 or higher, the check is for the number of
triggers that are in a 'disabled' status (as opposed to being 'always' or 'replica'). The
output will show the name of the table and the name of the trigger for each disabled
trigger.

Example 1: Make sure that there are no disabled triggers

check_postgres_disabled_triggers

For MRTG output, returns the number of disabled triggers on the first line.

disk_space
("symlink: check_postgres_disk_space") Checks on the available physical disk space used by
Postgres. This action requires that you have the executable "/bin/df" available to report
on disk sizes, and it also needs to be run as a superuser, so it can examine the
data_directory setting inside of Postgres. The --warning and --critical options are given
in either sizes or percentages or both. If using sizes, the standard unit types are
allowed: bytes, kilobytes, gigabytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, or exabytes. Each
may be abbreviated to the first letter only; no units at all indicates 'bytes'. The
default values are '90%' and '95%'.

This command checks the following things to determine all of the different physical disks
being used by Postgres.

data_directory - The disk that the main data directory is on.

log directory - The disk that the log files are on.

WAL file directory - The disk that the write-ahead logs are on (e.g. symlinked pg_xlog)

tablespaces - Each tablespace that is on a separate disk.

The output shows the total size used and available on each disk, as well as the
percentage, ordered by highest to lowest percentage used. Each item above maps to a file
system: these can be included or excluded. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more
details.

Example 1: Make sure that no file system is over 90% for the database on port 5432.

check_postgres_disk_space --port=5432 --warning='90%' --critical='90%'

Example 2: Check that all file systems starting with /dev/sda are smaller than 10 GB and
11 GB (warning and critical)

check_postgres_disk_space --port=5432 --warning='10 GB' --critical='11 GB' --include="~^/dev/sda"

Example 4: Make sure that no file system is both over 50% and has over 15 GB

check_postgres_disk_space --critical='50% and 15 GB'

Example 5: Issue a warning if any file system is either over 70% full or has more than 1T

check_postgres_disk_space --warning='1T or 75'

For MRTG output, returns the size in bytes of the file system on the first line, and the
name of the file system on the fourth line.

fsm_pages
("symlink: check_postgres_fsm_pages") Checks how close a cluster is to the Postgres
max_fsm_pages setting. This action will only work for databases of 8.2 or higher, and it
requires the contrib module pg_freespacemap be installed. The --warning and --critical
options should be expressed as percentages. The number of used pages in the free-space-map
is determined by looking in the pg_freespacemap_relations view, and running a formula
based on the formula used for outputting free-space-map pageslots in the vacuum verbose
command. The default values are 85% for the warning and 95% for the critical.

Example 1: Give a warning when our cluster has used up 76% of the free-space pageslots,
with pg_freespacemap installed in database robert

check_postgres_fsm_pages --dbname=robert --warning="76%"

While you need to pass in the name of the database where pg_freespacemap is installed, you
only need to run this check once per cluster. Also, checking this information does require
obtaining special locks on the free-space-map, so it is recommend you do not run this
check with short intervals.

For MRTG output, returns the percent of free-space-map on the first line, and the number
of pages currently used on the second line.

fsm_relations
("symlink: check_postgres_fsm_relations") Checks how close a cluster is to the Postgres
max_fsm_relations setting. This action will only work for databases of 8.2 or higher, and
it requires the contrib module pg_freespacemap be installed. The --warning and --critical
options should be expressed as percentages. The number of used relations in the free-
space-map is determined by looking in the pg_freespacemap_relations view. The default
values are 85% for the warning and 95% for the critical.

Example 1: Give a warning when our cluster has used up 80% of the free-space relations,
with pg_freespacemap installed in database dylan

check_postgres_fsm_relations --dbname=dylan --warning="75%"

While you need to pass in the name of the database where pg_freespacemap is installed, you
only need to run this check once per cluster. Also, checking this information does require
obtaining special locks on the free-space-map, so it is recommend you do not run this
check with short intervals.

For MRTG output, returns the percent of free-space-map on the first line, the number of
relations currently used on the second line.

hitratio
("symlink: check_postgres_hitratio") Checks the hit ratio of all databases and complains
when they are too low. There is no need to run this command more than once per database
cluster. Databases can be filtered with the --include and --exclude options. See the
"BASIC FILTERING" section for more details. They can also be filtered by the owner of the
database with the --includeuser and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING"
section for more details.

The warning and critical options should be specified as percentages. There are not
defaults for this action: the warning and critical must be specified. The warning value
cannot be greater than the critical value. The output returns all databases sorted by
hitratio, smallest first.

Example: Warn if any database on host flagg is less than 90% in hitratio, and critical if
less then 80%.

check_postgres_hitratio --host=flagg --warning='90%' --critical='80%'

For MRTG output, returns the percentage of the database with the smallest hitratio on the
first line, and the name of the database on the fourth line.

hot_standby_delay
("symlink: check_hot_standby_delay") Checks the streaming replication lag by computing the
delta between the current xlog position of a master server and the replay location of a
slave connected to it. The slave server must be in hot_standby (e.g. read only) mode,
therefore the minimum version to use this action is Postgres 9.0. The --warning and
--critical options are the delta between the xlog locations. Since these values are byte
offsets in the WAL they should match the expected transaction volume of your application
to prevent false positives or negatives.

The first "--dbname", "--host", and "--port", etc. options are considered the master; the
second belongs to the slave.

Byte values should be based on the volume of transactions needed to have the streaming
replication disconnect from the master because of too much lag, determined by the Postgres
configuration variable wal_keep_segments. For units of time, valid units are 'seconds',
'minutes', 'hours', or 'days'. Each may be written singular or abbreviated to just the
first letter. When specifying both, in the form 'bytes and time', both conditions must be
true for the threshold to be met.

You must provide information on how to reach the databases by providing a comma separated
list to the --dbhost and --dbport parameters, such as "--dbport=5432,5543". If not given,
the action fails.

Example 1: Warn a database with a local replica on port 5433 is behind on any xlog replay
at all

check_hot_standby_delay --dbport=5432,5433 --warning='1'

Example 2: Give a critical if the last transaction replica1 receives is more than 10
minutes ago

check_hot_standby_delay --dbhost=master,replica1 --critical='10 min'

Example 3: Allow replica1 to be 1 WAL segment behind, if the master is momentarily seeing
more activity than the streaming replication connection can handle, or 10 minutes behind,
if the master is seeing very little activity and not processing any transactions, but not
both, which would indicate a lasting problem with the replication connection.

check_hot_standby_delay --dbhost=master,replica1 --warning='1048576 and 2 min' --critical='16777216 and 10 min'

index_size
table_size
relation_size
(symlinks: "check_postgres_index_size", "check_postgres_table_size", and
"check_postgres_relation_size") The actions table_size and index_size are simply
variations of the relation_size action, which checks for a relation that has grown too
big. Relations (in other words, tables and indexes) can be filtered with the --include
and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more details. Relations can
also be filtered by the user that owns them, by using the --includeuser and --excludeuser
options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING" section for more details.

The values for the --warning and --critical options are file sizes, and may have units of
bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, or exabytes. Each can be abbreviated
to the first letter. If no units are given, bytes are assumed. There are no default
values: both the warning and the critical option must be given. The return text shows the
size of the largest relation found.

If the --showperf option is enabled, all of the relations with their sizes will be given.
To prevent this, it is recommended that you set the --perflimit option, which will cause
the query to do a "ORDER BY size DESC LIMIT (perflimit)".

Example 1: Give a critical if any table is larger than 600MB on host burrick.

check_postgres_table_size --critical='600 MB' --warning='600 MB' --host=burrick

Example 2: Warn if the table products is over 4 GB in size, and give a critical at 4.5 GB.

check_postgres_table_size --host=burrick --warning='4 GB' --critical='4.5 GB' --include=products

Example 3: Warn if any index not owned by postgres goes over 500 MB.

check_postgres_index_size --port=5432 --excludeuser=postgres -w 500MB -c 600MB

For MRTG output, returns the size in bytes of the largest relation, and the name of the
database and relation as the fourth line.

last_analyze
last_vacuum
last_autoanalyze
last_autovacuum
(symlinks: "check_postgres_last_analyze", "check_postgres_last_vacuum",
"check_postgres_last_autoanalyze", and "check_postgres_last_autovacuum") Checks how long
it has been since vacuum (or analyze) was last run on each table in one or more databases.
Use of these actions requires that the target database is version 8.3 or greater, or that
the version is 8.2 and the configuration variable stats_row_level has been enabled. Tables
can be filtered with the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING"
section for more details. Tables can also be filtered by their owner by use of the
--includeuser and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING" section for more
details.

The units for --warning and --critical are specified as times. Valid units are seconds,
minutes, hours, and days; all can be abbreviated to the first letter. If no units are
given, 'seconds' are assumed. The default values are '1 day' and '2 days'. Please note
that there are cases in which this field does not get automatically populated. If certain
tables are giving you problems, make sure that they have dead rows to vacuum, or just
exclude them from the test.

The schema named 'information_schema' is excluded from this test, as the only tables it
contains are small and do not change.

Note that the non-'auto' versions will also check on the auto versions as well. In other
words, using last_vacuum will report on the last vacuum, whether it was a normal vacuum,
or one run by the autovacuum daemon.

Example 1: Warn if any table has not been vacuumed in 3 days, and give a critical at a
week, for host wormwood

check_postgres_last_vacuum --host=wormwood --warning='3d' --critical='7d'

Example 2: Same as above, but skip tables belonging to the users 'eve' or 'mallory'

check_postgres_last_vacuum --host=wormwood --warning='3d' --critical='7d' --excludeusers=eve,mallory

For MRTG output, returns (on the first line) the LEAST amount of time in seconds since a
table was last vacuumed or analyzed. The fourth line returns the name of the database and
name of the table.

listener
("symlink: check_postgres_listener") Confirm that someone is listening for one or more
specific strings (using the LISTEN/NOTIFY system), by looking at the pg_listener table.
Only one of warning or critical is needed. The format is a simple string representing the
LISTEN target, or a tilde character followed by a string for a regular expression check.
Note that this check will not work on versions of Postgres 9.0 or higher.

Example 1: Give a warning if nobody is listening for the string bucardo_mcp_ping on ports
5555 and 5556

check_postgres_listener --port=5555,5556 --warning=bucardo_mcp_ping

Example 2: Give a critical if there are no active LISTEN requests matching 'grimm' on
database oskar

check_postgres_listener --db oskar --critical=~grimm

For MRTG output, returns a 1 or a 0 on the first, indicating success or failure. The name
of the notice must be provided via the --mrtg option.

locks
("symlink: check_postgres_locks") Check the total number of locks on one or more
databases. There is no need to run this more than once per database cluster. Databases can
be filtered with the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section
for more details.

The --warning and --critical options can be specified as simple numbers, which represent
the total number of locks, or they can be broken down by type of lock. Valid lock names
are 'total', 'waiting', or the name of a lock type used by Postgres. These names are
case-insensitive and do not need the "lock" part on the end, so exclusive will match
'ExclusiveLock'. The format is name=number, with different items separated by colons or
semicolons (or any other symbol).

Example 1: Warn if the number of locks is 100 or more, and critical if 200 or more, on
host garrett

check_postgres_locks --host=garrett --warning=100 --critical=200

Example 2: On the host artemus, warn if 200 or more locks exist, and give a critical if
over 250 total locks exist, or if over 20 exclusive locks exist, or if over 5 connections
are waiting for a lock.

check_postgres_locks --host=artemus --warning=200 --critical="total=250:waiting=5:exclusive=20"

For MRTG output, returns the number of locks on the first line, and the name of the
database on the fourth line.

logfile
("symlink: check_postgres_logfile") Ensures that the logfile is in the expected location
and is being logged to. This action issues a command that throws an error on each
database it is checking, and ensures that the message shows up in the logs. It scans the
various log_* settings inside of Postgres to figure out where the logs should be. If you
are using syslog, it does a rough (but not foolproof) scan of /etc/syslog.conf.
Alternatively, you can provide the name of the logfile with the --logfile option. This is
especially useful if the logs have a custom rotation scheme driven be an external program.
The --logfile option supports the following escape characters: "%Y %m %d %H", which
represent the current year, month, date, and hour respectively. An error is always
reported as critical unless the warning option has been passed in as a non-zero value.
Other than that specific usage, the "--warning" and "--critical" options should not be
used.

Example 1: On port 5432, ensure the logfile is being written to the file
/home/greg/pg8.2.log

check_postgres_logfile --port=5432 --logfile=/home/greg/pg8.2.log

Example 2: Same as above, but raise a warning, not a critical

check_postgres_logfile --port=5432 --logfile=/home/greg/pg8.2.log -w 1

For MRTG output, returns a 1 or 0 on the first line, indicating success or failure. In
case of a failure, the fourth line will provide more detail on the failure encountered.

new_version_bc
("symlink: check_postgres_new_version_bc") Checks if a newer version of the Bucardo
program is available. The current version is obtained by running "bucardo_ctl --version".
If a major upgrade is available, a warning is returned. If a revision upgrade is
available, a critical is returned. (Bucardo is a master to slave, and master to master
replication system for Postgres: see http://bucardo.org for more information). See also
the information on the "--get_method" option.

new_version_box
("symlink: check_postgres_new_version_box") Checks if a newer version of the boxinfo
program is available. The current version is obtained by running "boxinfo.pl --version".
If a major upgrade is available, a warning is returned. If a revision upgrade is
available, a critical is returned. (boxinfo is a program for grabbing important
information from a server and putting it into a HTML format: see
http://bucardo.org/wiki/boxinfo for more information). See also the information on the
"--get_method" option.

new_version_cp
("symlink: check_postgres_new_version_cp") Checks if a newer version of this program
(check_postgres) is available, by grabbing the version from a small text file on the main
page of the home page for the project. Returns a warning if the returned version does not
match the one you are running. Recommended interval to check is once a day. See also the
information on the "--get_method" option.

new_version_pg
("symlink: check_postgres_new_version_pg") Checks if a newer revision of Postgres exists
for each database connected to. Note that this only checks for revision, e.g. going from
8.3.6 to 8.3.7. Revisions are always 100% binary compatible and involve no dump and
restore to upgrade. Revisions are made to address bugs, so upgrading as soon as possible
is always recommended. Returns a warning if you do not have the latest revision. It is
recommended this check is run at least once a day. See also the information on the
"--get_method" option.

new_version_tnm
("symlink: check_postgres_new_version_tnm") Checks if a newer version of the tail_n_mail
program is available. The current version is obtained by running "tail_n_mail --version".
If a major upgrade is available, a warning is returned. If a revision upgrade is
available, a critical is returned. (tail_n_mail is a log monitoring tool that can send
mail when interesting events appear in your Postgres logs. See:
http://bucardo.org/wiki/Tail_n_mail for more information). See also the information on
the "--get_method" option.

pgb_pool_cl_active
pgb_pool_cl_waiting
pgb_pool_sv_active
pgb_pool_sv_idle
pgb_pool_sv_used
pgb_pool_sv_tested
pgb_pool_sv_login
pgb_pool_maxwait
(symlinks: "check_postgres_pgb_pool_cl_active", "check_postgres_pgb_pool_cl_waiting",
"check_postgres_pgb_pool_sv_active", "check_postgres_pgb_pool_sv_idle",
"check_postgres_pgb_pool_sv_used", "check_postgres_pgb_pool_sv_tested",
"check_postgres_pgb_pool_sv_login", and "check_postgres_pgb_pool_maxwait")

Examines pgbouncer's pool statistics. Each pool has a set of "client" connections,
referring to connections from external clients, and "server" connections, referring to
connections to PostgreSQL itself. The related check_postgres actions are prefixed by "cl_"
and "sv_", respectively. Active client connections are those connections currently linked
with an active server connection. Client connections may also be "waiting", meaning they
have not yet been allocated a server connection. Server connections are "active" (linked
to a client), "idle" (standing by for a client connection to link with), "used" (just
unlinked from a client, and not yet returned to the idle pool), "tested" (currently being
tested) and "login" (in the process of logging in). The maxwait value shows how long in
seconds the oldest waiting client connection has been waiting.

pgbouncer_backends
("symlink: check_postgres_pgbouncer_backends") Checks the current number of connections
for one or more databases through pgbouncer, and optionally compares it to the maximum
allowed, which is determined by the pgbouncer configuration variable max_client_conn. The
--warning and --critical options can take one of three forms. First, a simple number can
be given, which represents the number of connections at which the alert will be given.
This choice does not use the max_connections setting. Second, the percentage of available
connections can be given. Third, a negative number can be given which represents the
number of connections left until max_connections is reached. The default values for
--warning and --critical are '90%' and '95%'. You can also filter the databases by use of
the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section for more details.

To view only non-idle processes, you can use the --noidle argument. Note that the user you
are connecting as must be a superuser for this to work properly.

Example 1: Give a warning when the number of connections on host quirm reaches 120, and a
critical if it reaches 150.

check_postgres_pgbouncer_backends --host=quirm --warning=120 --critical=150 -p 6432 -u pgbouncer

Example 2: Give a critical when we reach 75% of our max_connections setting on hosts
lancre or lancre2.

check_postgres_pgbouncer_backends --warning='75%' --critical='75%' --host=lancre,lancre2 -p 6432 -u pgbouncer

Example 3: Give a warning when there are only 10 more connection slots left on host
plasmid, and a critical when we have only 5 left.

check_postgres_pgbouncer_backends --warning=-10 --critical=-5 --host=plasmid -p 6432 -u pgbouncer

For MRTG output, the number of connections is reported on the first line, and the fourth
line gives the name of the database, plus the current max_client_conn. If more than one
database has been queried, the one with the highest number of connections is output.

pgbouncer_checksum
("symlink: check_postgres_pgbouncer_checksum") Checks that all the pgBouncer settings are
the same as last time you checked. This is done by generating a checksum of a sorted list
of setting names and their values. Note that you shouldn't specify the database name, it
will automatically default to pgbouncer. Either the --warning or the --critical option
should be given, but not both. The value of each one is the checksum, a 32-character
hexadecimal value. You can run with the special "--critical=0" option to find out an
existing checksum.

This action requires the Digest::MD5 module.

Example 1: Find the initial checksum for pgbouncer configuration on port 6432 using the
default user (usually postgres)

check_postgres_pgbouncer_checksum --port=6432 --critical=0

Example 2: Make sure no settings have changed and warn if so, using the checksum from
above.

check_postgres_pgbouncer_checksum --port=6432 --warning=cd2f3b5e129dc2b4f5c0f6d8d2e64231

For MRTG output, returns a 1 or 0 indicating success of failure of the checksum to match.
A checksum must be provided as the "--mrtg" argument. The fourth line always gives the
current checksum.

pgagent_jobs
("symlink: check_postgres_pgagent_jobs") Checks that all the pgAgent jobs that have
executed in the preceding interval of time have succeeded. This is done by checking for
any steps that have a non-zero result.

Either "--warning" or "--critical", or both, may be specified as times, and jobs will be
checked for failures withing the specified periods of time before the current time. Valid
units are seconds, minutes, hours, and days; all can be abbreviated to the first letter.
If no units are given, 'seconds' are assumed.

Example 1: Give a critical when any jobs executed in the last day have failed.

check_postgres_pgagent_jobs --critical=1d

Example 2: Give a warning when any jobs executed in the last week have failed.

check_postgres_pgagent_jobs --warning=7d

Example 3: Give a critical for jobs that have failed in the last 2 hours and a warning for
jobs that have failed in the last 4 hours:

check_postgres_pgagent_jobs --critical=2h --warning=4h

prepared_txns
("symlink: check_postgres_prepared_txns") Check on the age of any existing prepared
transactions. Note that most people will NOT use prepared transactions, as they are part
of two-part commit and complicated to maintain. They should also not be confused with
prepared STATEMENTS, which is what most people think of when they hear prepare. The
default value for a warning is 1 second, to detect any use of prepared transactions, which
is probably a mistake on most systems. Warning and critical are the number of seconds a
prepared transaction has been open before an alert is given.

Example 1: Give a warning on detecting any prepared transactions:

check_postgres_prepared_txns -w 0

Example 2: Give a critical if any prepared transaction has been open longer than 10
seconds, but allow up to 360 seconds for the database 'shrike':

check_postgres_prepared_txns --critical=10 --exclude=shrike
check_postgres_prepared_txns --critical=360 --include=shrike

For MRTG output, returns the number of seconds the oldest transaction has been open as the
first line, and which database is came from as the final line.

query_runtime
("symlink: check_postgres_query_runtime") Checks how long a specific query takes to run,
by executing a "EXPLAIN ANALYZE" against it. The --warning and --critical options are the
maximum amount of time the query should take. Valid units are seconds, minutes, and hours;
any can be abbreviated to the first letter. If no units are given, 'seconds' are assumed.
Both the warning and the critical option must be given. The name of the view or function
to be run must be passed in to the --queryname option. It must consist of a single word
(or schema.word), with optional parens at the end.

Example 1: Give a critical if the function named "speedtest" fails to run in 10 seconds or
less.

check_postgres_query_runtime --queryname='speedtest()' --critical=10 --warning=10

For MRTG output, reports the time in seconds for the query to complete on the first line.
The fourth line lists the database.

query_time
("symlink: check_postgres_query_time") Checks the length of running queries on one or more
databases. There is no need to run this more than once on the same database cluster. Note
that this already excludes queries that are "idle in transaction". Databases can be
filtered by using the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section
for more details. You can also filter on the user running the query with the --includeuser
and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING" section for more details.

The values for the --warning and --critical options are amounts of time, and default to '2
minutes' and '5 minutes' respectively. Valid units are 'seconds', 'minutes', 'hours', or
'days'. Each may be written singular or abbreviated to just the first letter. If no units
are given, the unit is assumed to be seconds.

This action requires Postgres 8.1 or better.

Example 1: Give a warning if any query has been running longer than 3 minutes, and a
critical if longer than 5 minutes.

check_postgres_query_time --port=5432 --warning='3 minutes' --critical='5 minutes'

Example 2: Using default values (2 and 5 minutes), check all databases except those
starting with 'template'.

check_postgres_query_time --port=5432 --exclude=~^template

Example 3: Warn if user 'don' has a query running over 20 seconds

check_postgres_query_time --port=5432 --includeuser=don --warning=20s

For MRTG output, returns the length in seconds of the longest running query on the first
line. The fourth line gives the name of the database.

replicate_row
("symlink: check_postgres_replicate_row") Checks that master-slave replication is working
to one or more slaves.

The first "--dbname", "--host", and "--port", etc. options are considered the master;
subsequent uses are the slaves. The values or the --warning and --critical options are
units of time, and at least one must be provided (no defaults). Valid units are 'seconds',
'minutes', 'hours', or 'days'. Each may be written singular or abbreviated to just the
first letter. If no units are given, the units are assumed to be seconds.

This check updates a single row on the master, and then measures how long it takes to be
applied to the slaves. To do this, you need to pick a table that is being replicated, then
find a row that can be changed, and is not going to be changed by any other process. A
specific column of this row will be changed from one value to another. All of this is fed
to the "repinfo" option, and should contain the following options, separated by commas:
table name, primary key, key id, column, first value, second value.

Example 1: Slony is replicating a table named 'orders' from host 'alpha' to host 'beta',
in the database 'sales'. The primary key of the table is named id, and we are going to
test the row with an id of 3 (which is historical and never changed). There is a column
named 'salesrep' that we are going to toggle from a value of 'slon' to 'nols' to check on
the replication. We want to throw a warning if the replication does not happen within 10
seconds.

check_postgres_replicate_row --host=alpha --dbname=sales --host=beta
--dbname=sales --warning=10 --repinfo=orders,id,3,salesrep,slon,nols

Example 2: Bucardo is replicating a table named 'receipt' from host 'green' to hosts
'red', 'blue', and 'yellow'. The database for both sides is 'public'. The slave databases
are running on port 5455. The primary key is named 'receipt_id', the row we want to use
has a value of 9, and the column we want to change for the test is called 'zone'. We'll
toggle between 'north' and 'south' for the value of this column, and throw a critical if
the change is not on all three slaves within 5 seconds.

check_postgres_replicate_row --host=green --port=5455 --host=red,blue,yellow
--critical=5 --repinfo=receipt,receipt_id,9,zone,north,south

For MRTG output, returns on the first line the time in seconds the replication takes to
finish. The maximum time is set to 4 minutes 30 seconds: if no replication has taken
place in that long a time, an error is thrown.

same_schema
("symlink: check_postgres_same_schema") Verifies that two or more databases are identical
as far as their schema (but not the data within). This is particularly handy for making
sure your slaves have not been modified or corrupted in any way when using master to slave
replication. Unlike most other actions, this has no warning or critical criteria - the
databases are either in sync, or are not. If they are different, a detailed list of the
differences is presented.

You may want to exclude or filter out certain differences. The way to do this is to add
strings to the "--filter" option. To exclude a type of object, use "noname", where 'name'
is the type of object, for example, "noschema". To exclude objects of a certain type by a
regular expression against their name, use "noname=regex". See the examples below for a
better understanding.

The types of objects that can be filtered include:

user
schema
table
view
index
sequence
constraint
trigger
function

The filter option "noposition" prevents verification of the position of columns within a
table.

The filter option "nofuncbody" prevents comparison of the bodies of all functions.

The filter option "noperm" prevents comparison of object permissions.

To provide the second database, just append the differences to the first one by a call to
the appropriate connection argument. For example, to compare databases on hosts alpha and
bravo, use "--dbhost=alpha,bravo". Also see the examples below.

If only a single host is given, it is assumed we are doing a "time-based" report. The
first time this is run a snapshot of all the items in the database is saved to a local
file. When you run it again, that snapshot is read in and becomes "database #2" and is
compared to the current database.

To replace the old stored file with the new version, use the --replace argument.

To enable snapshots at various points in time, you can use the "--suffix" argument to make
the filenames unique to each run. See the examples below.

Example 1: Verify that two databases on hosts star and line are the same:

check_postgres_same_schema --dbhost=star,line

Example 2: Same as before, but exclude any triggers with "slony" in their name

check_postgres_same_schema --dbhost=star,line --filter="notrigger=slony"

Example 3: Same as before, but also exclude all indexes

check_postgres_same_schema --dbhost=star,line --filter="notrigger=slony noindexes"

Example 4: Check differences for the database "battlestar" on different ports

check_postgres_same_schema --dbname=battlestar --dbport=5432,5544

Example 5: Create a daily and weekly snapshot file

check_postgres_same_schema --dbname=cylon --suffix=daily
check_postgres_same_schema --dbname=cylon --suffix=weekly

Example 6: Run a historical comparison, then replace the file

check_postgres_same_schema --dbname=cylon --suffix=daily --replace

sequence
("symlink: check_postgres_sequence") Checks how much room is left on all sequences in the
database. This is measured as the percent of total possible values that have been used
for each sequence. The --warning and --critical options should be expressed as
percentages. The default values are 85% for the warning and 95% for the critical. You may
use --include and --exclude to control which sequences are to be checked. Note that this
check does account for unusual minvalue and increment by values, but does not care if the
sequence is set to cycle or not.

The output for Nagios gives the name of the sequence, the percentage used, and the number
of 'calls' left, indicating how many more times nextval can be called on that sequence
before running into the maximum value.

The output for MRTG returns the highest percentage across all sequences on the first line,
and the name of each sequence with that percentage on the fourth line, separated by a "|"
(pipe) if there are more than one sequence at that percentage.

Example 1: Give a warning if any sequences are approaching 95% full.

check_postgres_sequence --dbport=5432 --warning=95%

Example 2: Check that the sequence named "orders_id_seq" is not more than half full.

check_postgres_sequence --dbport=5432 --critical=50% --include=orders_id_seq

settings_checksum
("symlink: check_postgres_settings_checksum") Checks that all the Postgres settings are
the same as last time you checked. This is done by generating a checksum of a sorted list
of setting names and their values. Note that different users in the same database may have
different checksums, due to ALTER USER usage, and due to the fact that superusers see more
settings than ordinary users. Either the --warning or the --critical option should be
given, but not both. The value of each one is the checksum, a 32-character hexadecimal
value. You can run with the special "--critical=0" option to find out an existing
checksum.

This action requires the Digest::MD5 module.

Example 1: Find the initial checksum for the database on port 5555 using the default user
(usually postgres)

check_postgres_settings_checksum --port=5555 --critical=0

Example 2: Make sure no settings have changed and warn if so, using the checksum from
above.

check_postgres_settings_checksum --port=5555 --warning=cd2f3b5e129dc2b4f5c0f6d8d2e64231

For MRTG output, returns a 1 or 0 indicating success of failure of the checksum to match.
A checksum must be provided as the "--mrtg" argument. The fourth line always gives the
current checksum.

slony_status
("symlink: check_postgres_slony_status") Checks in the status of a Slony cluster by
looking at the results of Slony's sl_status view. This is returned as the number of
seconds of "lag time". The --warning and --critical options should be expressed as times.
The default values are 60 seconds for the warning and 300 seconds for the critical.

The optional argument --schema indicated the schema that Slony is installed under. If it
is not given, the schema will be determined automatically each time this check is run.

Example 1: Give a warning if any Slony is lagged by more than 20 seconds

check_postgres_slony_status --warning 20

Example 2: Give a critical if Slony, installed under the schema "_slony", is over 10
minutes lagged

check_postgres_slony_status --schema=_slony --critical=600

timesync
("symlink: check_postgres_timesync") Compares the local system time with the time reported
by one or more databases. The --warning and --critical options represent the number of
seconds between the two systems before an alert is given. If neither is specified, the
default values are used, which are '2' and '5'. The warning value cannot be greater than
the critical value. Due to the non-exact nature of this test, values of '0' or '1' are not
recommended.

The string returned shows the time difference as well as the time on each side written
out.

Example 1: Check that databases on hosts ankh, morpork, and klatch are no more than 3
seconds off from the local time:

check_postgres_timesync --host=ankh,morpork,klatch --critical=3

For MRTG output, returns one the first line the number of seconds difference between the
local time and the database time. The fourth line returns the name of the database.

txn_idle
("symlink: check_postgres_txn_idle") Checks the number and duration of "idle in
transaction" queries on one or more databases. There is no need to run this more than once
on the same database cluster. Databases can be filtered by using the --include and
--exclude options. See the "BASIC FILTERING" section below for more details.

The --warning and --critical options are given as units of time, signed integers, or
integers for units of time, and both must be provided (there are no defaults). Valid units
are 'seconds', 'minutes', 'hours', or 'days'. Each may be written singular or abbreviated
to just the first letter. If no units are given and the numbers are unsigned, the units
are assumed to be seconds.

This action requires Postgres 8.3 or better.

Example 1: Give a warning if any connection has been idle in transaction for more than 15
seconds:

check_postgres_txn_idle --port=5432 --warning='15 seconds'

Example 2: Give a warning if there are 50 or more transactions

check_postgres_txn_idle --port=5432 --warning='+50'

Example 3: Give a critical if 5 or more connections have been idle in transaction for more
than 10 seconds:

check_postgres_txn_idle --port=5432 --critical='5 for 10 seconds'

For MRTG output, returns the time in seconds the longest idle transaction has been
running. The fourth line returns the name of the database and other information about the
longest transaction.

txn_time
("symlink: check_postgres_txn_time") Checks the length of open transactions on one or more
databases. There is no need to run this command more than once per database cluster.
Databases can be filtered by use of the --include and --exclude options. See the "BASIC
FILTERING" section for more details. The owner of the transaction can also be filtered, by
use of the --includeuser and --excludeuser options. See the "USER NAME FILTERING" section
for more details.

The values or the --warning and --critical options are units of time, and must be provided
(no default). Valid units are 'seconds', 'minutes', 'hours', or 'days'. Each may be
written singular or abbreviated to just the first letter. If no units are given, the
units are assumed to be seconds.

This action requires Postgres 8.3 or better.

Example 1: Give a critical if any transaction has been open for more than 10 minutes:

check_postgres_txn_time --port=5432 --critical='10 minutes'

Example 1: Warn if user 'warehouse' has a transaction open over 30 seconds

check_postgres_txn_time --port-5432 --warning=30s --includeuser=warehouse

For MRTG output, returns the maximum time in seconds a transaction has been open on the
first line. The fourth line gives the name of the database.

txn_wraparound
("symlink: check_postgres_txn_wraparound") Checks how close to transaction wraparound one
or more databases are getting. The --warning and --critical options indicate the number
of transactions done, and must be a positive integer. If either option is not given, the
default values of 1.3 and 1.4 billion are used. There is no need to run this command more
than once per database cluster. For a more detailed discussion of what this number
represents and what to do about it, please visit the page
<http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/routine-vacuuming.html#VACUUM-FOR-WRAPAROUND>

The warning and critical values can have underscores in the number for legibility, as Perl
does.

Example 1: Check the default values for the localhost database

check_postgres_txn_wraparound --host=localhost

Example 2: Check port 6000 and give a critical when 1.7 billion transactions are hit:

check_postgres_txn_wraparound --port=6000 --critical=1_700_000_000

For MRTG output, returns the highest number of transactions for all databases on line one,
while line 4 indicates which database it is.

version
("symlink: check_postgres_version") Checks that the required version of Postgres is
running. The --warning and --critical options (only one is required) must be of the format
X.Y or X.Y.Z where X is the major version number, Y is the minor version number, and Z is
the revision.

Example 1: Give a warning if the database on port 5678 is not version 8.4.10:

check_postgres_version --port=5678 -w=8.4.10

Example 2: Give a warning if any databases on hosts valley,grain, or sunshine is not 8.3:

check_postgres_version -H valley,grain,sunshine --critical=8.3

For MRTG output, reports a 1 or a 0 indicating success or failure on the first line. The
fourth line indicates the current version. The version must be provided via the "--mrtg"
option.

wal_files
("symlink: check_postgres_wal_files") Checks how many WAL files exist in the pg_xlog
directory, which is found off of your data_directory, sometimes as a symlink to another
physical disk for performance reasons. This action must be run as a superuser, in order to
access the contents of the pg_xlog directory. The minimum version to use this action is
Postgres 8.1. The --warning and --critical options are simply the number of files in the
pg_xlog directory. What number to set this to will vary, but a general guideline is to put
a number slightly higher than what is normally there, to catch problems early.

Normally, WAL files are closed and then re-used, but a long-running open transaction, or a
faulty archive_command script, may cause Postgres to create too many files. Ultimately,
this will cause the disk they are on to run out of space, at which point Postgres will
shut down.

Example 1: Check that the number of WAL files is 20 or less on host "pluto"

check_postgres_wal_files --host=pluto --critical=20

For MRTG output, reports the number of WAL files on line 1.

rebuild_symlinks
rebuild_symlinks_force
This action requires no other arguments, and does not connect to any databases, but simply
creates symlinks in the current directory for each action, in the form
check_postgres_<action_name>. If the file already exists, it will not be overwritten. If
the action is rebuild_symlinks_force, then symlinks will be overwritten. The option
--symlinks is a shorter way of saying --action=rebuild_symlinks

BASIC FILTERING

The options --include and --exclude can be combined to limit which things are checked,
depending on the action. The name of the database can be filtered when using the following
actions: backends, database_size, locks, query_time, txn_idle, and txn_time. The name of
a relation can be filtered when using the following actions: bloat, index_size,
table_size, relation_size, last_vacuum, last_autovacuum, last_analyze, and
last_autoanalyze. The name of a setting can be filtered when using the settings_checksum
action. The name of a file system can be filtered when using the disk_space action.

If only an include option is given, then ONLY those entries that match will be checked.
However, if given both exclude and include, the exclusion is done first, and the inclusion
after, to reinstate things that may have been excluded. Both --include and --exclude can
be given multiple times, and/or as comma-separated lists. A leading tilde will match the
following word as a regular expression.

To match a schema, end the search term with a single period. Leading tildes can be used
for schemas as well.

Be careful when using filtering: an inclusion rule on the backends, for example, may
report no problems not only because the matching database had no backends, but because you
misspelled the name of the database!

Examples:

Only checks items named pg_class:

--include=pg_class

Only checks items containing the letters 'pg_':

--include=~pg_

Only check items beginning with 'pg_':

--include=~^pg_

Exclude the item named 'test':

--exclude=test

Exclude all items containing the letters 'test:

--exclude=~test

Exclude all items in the schema 'pg_catalog':

--exclude='pg_catalog.'

Exclude all items containing the letters 'ace', but allow the item 'faceoff':

--exclude=~ace --include=faceoff

Exclude all items which start with the letters 'pg_', which contain the letters 'slon', or
which are named 'sql_settings' or 'green'. Specifically check items with the letters
'prod' in their names, and always check the item named 'pg_relname':

--exclude=~^pg_,~slon,sql_settings --exclude=green --include=~prod,pg_relname

USER NAME FILTERING

The options --includeuser and --excludeuser can be used on some actions to only examine
database objects owned by (or not owned by) one or more users. An --includeuser option
always trumps an --excludeuser option. You can give each option more than once for
multiple users, or you can give a comma-separated list. The actions that currently use
these options are:

database_size
last_analyze
last_autoanalyze
last_vacuum
last_autovacuum
query_time
relation_size
txn_time

Examples:

Only check items owned by the user named greg:

--includeuser=greg

Only check items owned by either watson or crick:

--includeuser=watson,crick

Only check items owned by crick,franklin, watson, or wilkins:

--includeuser=watson --includeuser=franklin --includeuser=crick,wilkins

Check all items except for those belonging to the user scott:

--excludeuser=scott

TEST MODE

To help in setting things up, this program can be run in a "test mode" by specifying the
--test option. This will perform some basic tests to make sure that the databases can be
contacted, and that certain per-action prerequisites are met, such as whether the user is
a superuser, if the version of Postgres is new enough, and if stats_row_level is enabled.

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