database system_error ai_generated true

ERROR: archive command failed with exit code 1 DETAIL: The archive command was: cp %p /archive/%f

ID: database/postgres-wal-archive-failure

Also available as: JSON · Markdown · 中文
85%Fix Rate
85%Confidence
1Evidence
2023-06-20First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
PostgreSQL 14 active — — —
PostgreSQL 15 active — — —
PostgreSQL 16 active — — —

Root Cause

PostgreSQL WAL archiving command fails due to insufficient disk space, permission issues, or incorrect archive destination path.

generic

中文

PostgreSQL WAL归档命令因磁盘空间不足、权限问题或归档目标路径不正确而失败。

Official Documentation

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/16/continuous-archiving.html

Workarounds

  1. 90% success Check disk space on archive destination: df -h /archive; if full, free space or increase archive destination mount size. 
    Check disk space on archive destination: df -h /archive; if full, free space or increase archive destination mount size.
  2. 85% success Fix permissions on archive directory: chown -R postgres:postgres /archive; chmod 700 /archive; 
    Fix permissions on archive directory: chown -R postgres:postgres /archive; chmod 700 /archive;
  3. 95% success Test the archive command manually: sudo -u postgres cp /var/lib/postgresql/16/main/pg_wal/000000010000000000000001 /archive/; then fix any errors. 
    Test the archive command manually: sudo -u postgres cp /var/lib/postgresql/16/main/pg_wal/000000010000000000000001 /archive/; then fix any errors.

中文步骤

  1. Check disk space on archive destination: df -h /archive; if full, free space or increase archive destination mount size.
  2. Fix permissions on archive directory: chown -R postgres:postgres /archive; chmod 700 /archive;
  3. Test the archive command manually: sudo -u postgres cp /var/lib/postgresql/16/main/pg_wal/000000010000000000000001 /archive/; then fix any errors.

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Increase wal_keep_segments to a very high value to avoid archiving 60% fail

    This only delays the problem; WAL segments still accumulate and eventually fill pg_wal, causing PostgreSQL to crash.

  2. Set archive_mode=off to disable archiving entirely 90% fail

    Disabling archiving breaks point-in-time recovery and replication; not a viable fix for production systems that require backups.