wal_retrieve_retry_interval

wal_retrieve_retry_interval — Sets the time to wait before retrying to retrieve WAL after a failed attempt. Observed in PG9.5–19 Beta 3; its last measured boot default is 5 s in PG19 Beta 3, with sighup context. This is a beta-snapshot fact and can change before PostgreSQL 19 GA.

Note

Fact — official short description: “Sets the time to wait before retrying to retrieve WAL after a failed attempt.”

Identity

Type , Valueinteger: Upstream pg_settings type
Context , Valuesighup: Takes effect after configuration reload
Unit , Valuems: Raw unit
Range , Value1 – 2147483647: Raw limits in the last observed version
Enum values , Value—: — for non-enum types
Category , ValueReplication / Standby Servers: Upstream classification
Latest boot value , Value5000: 5 s

Lifecycle

Fact	Value
First observed	PG9.5
Present in	PG9.5–19 Beta 3
Removed in	No
Introduction commit	`5d2b45e3f78a` — Add GUC to control the time to wait before retrieving WAL after failed attempt.
Commit date	2015-02-23
Discussion	—

Default history

Measured PG9.0–19 Beta 3 boot defaults
Versions	Raw `boot_val`	Unit	Human value
PG9.5–19 Beta 3	`5000`	`ms`	5 s

How it works

Sets the time to wait before retrying to retrieve WAL after a failed attempt. A configuration reload applies a new value; existing work already in flight is not retroactively changed.

After archive, local pg_wal, and streaming retrieval fail, recovery waits this long before another attempt. Small values reduce recovery/standby reaction time but can hammer a missing archive or noisy network with retries.

Monitor and change wal_retrieve_retry_interval together with primary_conninfo, primary_slot_name, restore_command. Validate on the relevant server role and real workload, then use its sighup context to choose session change, reload, or restart; a historical boot default is not the current effective value.

Tuning advice

Tip

Advice. These are workload-specific starting points and must be validated with measurements.

Workload	Guidance
OLTP	Size wal_retrieve_retry_interval from topology, failover roles, slot/subscription count, and reconnect headroom. Test worst-case primary latency, standby replay, and disk retention before production.
OLAP	Read standbys and logical subscribers often see long queries or large transactions. Put explicit bounds on replay/apply and monitor lag, worker saturation, slot restart_lsn, and conflict cancellations.
Small nodes	Configure only replication capacity that is actually used. Even a small topology needs bounded timeouts and slot lifecycle; unlimited retention is not reliability.

Pigsty

Values use the fixed 8-vCPU, 32-GiB, 100-GiB SSD fixture and render the current Pigsty templates for PG19 Beta 3; this does not assert current Pigsty support for that historical or beta release.

Template	Effective value	Versus upstream boot	Source expression
OLTP	Unmodified	—	—
OLAP	Unmodified	—	—
CRIT	Unmodified	—	—
TINY	Unmodified	—	—

Caution

Advice — pending human review. Fact from the current Pigsty template projection: OLTP: PG9.5–19 Beta 3 unmodified; OLAP: PG9.5–19 Beta 3 unmodified; CRIT: PG9.5–19 Beta 3 unmodified; TINY: PG9.5–19 Beta 3 unmodified. No Pigsty-specific rationale is inferred from an absent override.

Common pitfalls

Changing it on the wrong primary, standby, sender, or subscriber role.
Watching only configured bytes/time instead of actual lag, slot position, and worker state.
Failing over to a node that lacks the old primary’s capacity or prerequisites.
Using infinite waits or WAL retention to hide a failed consumer.

primary_conninfo · primary_slot_name · restore_command · wal_receiver_timeout · hot_standby · hot_standby_feedback