pgactive

pgactive : Active-Active Replication Extension for PostgreSQL

Overview

Packages

Source

pig build pkg pgactive;		# build rpm/deb

Install

Make sure PGDG and PIGSTY repo available:

pig repo add pgsql -u   # add both repo and update cache

Install this extension with pig:

pig install pgactive;		# install via package name, for the active PG version

pig install pgactive -v 18;   # install for PG 18
pig install pgactive -v 17;   # install for PG 17
pig install pgactive -v 16;   # install for PG 16
pig install pgactive -v 15;   # install for PG 15
pig install pgactive -v 14;   # install for PG 14

Config this extension to shared_preload_libraries:

shared_preload_libraries = 'pgactive';

Create this extension with:

CREATE EXTENSION pgactive;

Usage

pgactive: Active-Active Replication Extension for PostgreSQL

The pgactive extension provides active-active (multi-master) replication for PostgreSQL, where multiple database instances can accept writes and replicate changes to each other.

Enabling

CREATE EXTENSION pgactive;

Overview

pgactive enables active-active replication using logical replication as its foundation. Multiple databases in a cluster can accept changes and replicate them bidirectionally.

Key Concepts

• Active-Active: All nodes accept reads and writes simultaneously
• Asynchronous: Changes are replicated asynchronously between nodes
• Conflict Resolution: Applications must handle conflicting changes from multiple writers
• Logical Replication: Uses PostgreSQL’s logical decoding to interpret and apply changes

Use Cases

• Multi-region high availability database clusters
• Reducing write latency between applications and databases
• Blue/green application updates
• Data migration between systems that must both remain writable

Design Considerations

Applications using pgactive must be designed to handle:

• Write conflicts: Concurrent modifications to the same row on different nodes
• Replication lag: Changes may not be immediately visible on all nodes
• Feature limitations: Some features like auto-incrementing sequences require special handling across nodes

Notes

• Built on PostgreSQL’s native logical replication infrastructure
• Requires PostgreSQL 10+ (native logical replication support)
• Refer to the project documentation for detailed setup and conflict resolution strategies