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What is pgpool-II?

pgpool-II is a middleware that works between PostgreSQL servers and a PostgreSQL database client. It is licensed under BSD license. It provides the following features.

• Connection Pooling

pgpool-II saves connections to the PostgreSQL servers, and reuse them whenever a new connection with the same properties (i.e. username, database, protocol version) comes in. It reduces connection overhead, and improves system's overall throughput.

• Replication

pgpool-II can manage multiple PostgreSQL servers. Using the replication function enables creating a realtime backup on 2 or more physical disks, so that the service can continue without stopping servers in case of a disk failure.

• Load Balancing

If a database is replicated, executing a SELECT query on any server will return the same result. pgpool-II takes an advantage of the replication feature to reduce the load on each PostgreSQL server by distributing SELECT queries among multiple servers, improving system's overall throughput. At best, performance improves proportionally to the number of PostgreSQL servers. Load balance works best in a situation where there are a lot of users executing many queries at the same time.

• Limiting Exceeding Connections

There is a limit on the maximum number of concurrent connections with PostgreSQL, and connections are rejected after this many connections. Setting the maximum number of connections, however, increases resource consumption and affect system performance. pgpool-II also has a limit on the maximum number of connections, but extra connections will be queued instead of returning an error immediately.

• Parallel Query

Using the parallel query function, data can be divided among the multiple servers, so that a query can be executed on all the servers concurrently to reduce the overall execution time. Parallel query works the best when searching large-scale data.

pgpool-II talks PostgreSQL's backend and frontend protocol, and relays a connection between them. Therefore, a database application (frontend) thinks that pgpool-II is the actual PostgreSQL server, and the server (backend) sees pgpool-II as one of its clients. Because pgpool-II is transparent to both the server and the client, an existing database application can be used with pgpool-II almost without a change to its sources.

pgpool-II License

Copyright (c) 2003-2015 PgPool Global Development Group

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of the author not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. The author makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Stable versions

• pgpool-II: 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1, 3.0
• pgpoolAdmin: 3.4, 3.3
• pgpool-HA: 2

What's new

Events

PostgreSQL Conference in China 2015

Tatsuo gave a talk "How to manage a herd of elephants" at "PostgreSQL Conference in China 2015", held in Beijing from November 21th to 22th. The slides are available in Developer's documentation.

pgCon 2015 Cluster Hacker Summit

We participated "6th Postgres Cluster Hacker Summit" which was held as a part of PgCon 2015 Developer Unconference. We reported about Development Status Updates and pgpool-II 3.5 features. The slides are available in Developer's documentation.

Pgpool-II Day 2015 in Tokyo

We had the very first time pgpool-II decicated conference. See the event report.

New docs

pgpool-II 3.5 is coming soon!

pgpool-II 3.5 alpha1 has been out. Tatsuo introduces "new features of pgpool-II 3.5."

Stable

pgpool-II 3.5.0 and pgpoolAdmin 3.5.0 officially released (2016/01/29)

Pgpool-II 3.5.0 is now officially released.

You can download them here.

V3.5's new features are:

• Improved performance in extended query protocol
• Overcoming the thundering herd problem
• watchdog feature enhancements to be more robust and adaptable
• PCP command enhancements
• Import PostgreSQL 9.5 parser
• etc.

Please see this for details.

• 3.5.0 release note: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.4.3, 3.3.7, 3.2.12, 3.1.15, and 3.0.19 officially released (2015/07/24)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.4.3: English Japanese
• 3.3.7: English Japanese
• 3.2.12: English Japanese
• 3.1.15: English Japanese
• 3.0.19: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.4.2, 3.3.6, 3.2.11, 3.1.14, and 3.0.18 officially released (2015/04/08)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.4.2: English Japanese
• 3.3.6: English Japanese
• 3.2.11: English Japanese
• 3.1.14: English Japanese
• 3.0.18: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.4.1, 3.3.5, 3.2.10, 3.1.13, 3.0.17 and pgpoolAdmin 3.4.1 officially released (2015/02/05)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.4.1: English Japanese
• 3.3.5: English Japanese
• 3.2.10: English Japanese
• 3.1.13: English Japanese
• 3.0.17: English Japanese

• pgpoolAdmin 3.4.1: English

The pgpool-II official yum repository released (2014/12/16)

PgPool Global Development Group announced the pgpool-II official yum repository. With this repository, you will be able to install or update pgpool-II and pgpoolAdmin etc. by using yum.

http://www.pgpool.net/yum/

The yum repository currently supports pgpool-II 3.3 or above with RHEL6 x86_64.

See Yum Repository for detail.

pgpool-II 3.4.0 and pgpoolAdmin 3.4.0 officially released (2014/11/07)

Pgpool-II 3.4.0 is now officially released.

You can download them here.

V3.4's new features are:

• Allow fine control of load balancing by using application name or database name
• New features about log output
  • Allow to print pgpool-II process names
  • Allow to control log verbosity like PostgreSQL
• SQL parser compatible with PostgreSQL 9.4
• Import PostgreSQL's memory manager and exception manager
• Support IPv6 address
• Reorganize source code tree
• etc.

• 3.4.0 release note: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.3.4, 3.2.9, 3.1.12, and 3.0.16 are officially released (2014/09/05)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.3.4: English Japanese
• 3.2.9: English Japanese
• 3.1.12: English Japanese
• 3.0.16: English Japanese

pgpool-ha 2.2 released (2014/04/01)

This is the latest stable version.

You can download them here.

pgpool-II 3.3.3, 3.2.8, 3.1.11, 3.0.15 and pgpoolAdmin 3.3.1 officially released (2014/03/24)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.3.3: English Japanese
• 3.2.8: English Japanese
• 3.1.11: English Japanese
• 3.0.15: English Japanese

• pgpoolAdmin 3.3.1: English

pgpool-II 3.2.7, 3.1.10, 3.0.14 officially released (2013/12/06)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

• 3.2.7: English Japanese
• 3.1.10: English Japanese
• 3.0.14: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.3.2 officially released (2013/11/29)

These are the latest stable version of 3.3.

You can download them here.

• 3.3.2: English Japanese

pgpool-II 3.3.1, 3.2.6, 3.1.9, 3.0.13 officially released (2013/09/06)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

Missing regression test suite in pgpool-II 3.3.0.tar.gz (2013/07/31)

New regression test suite was not accidentally included in the pgpool-II 3.3.0.tar.gz tar ball. You can get it from git repository or download from here.

pgpool-II 3.3 and pgpoolAdmin 3.3 officially released (2013/07/30)

Pgpool-II 3.3 is now officially released.

You can download them here.

V3.3's new features are:

• Enhancements for watchdog
  • New monitoring method of watchdog lifecheck using heartbeat signal
  • Interlocking of failover/failback script
  • Secure watchdog communication
  • PCP command for retrieving the watchdog status
  • etc.
• Othres
  • Import PostgreSQL 9.2 raw parser
  • New pgpool_setup tool
  • Support for using CREATE EXTENSION to install pgpool specific extensions
  • regression test suit
  • etc.

• pgpool-II 3.3 release note (English)
• pgpool-II 3.3 release note (Japanese)

pgpool-II 3.2.5, 3.1.8, 3.0.12 officially released (2013/07/10)

These are the latest stable versions of each major branches.

You can download them here.

Development

pgpool-II 3.5 RC1 released (2016/1/14)

pgpool-II 3.5 RC1 and pgpoolAdmin 3.5 RC1 are now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

You can download it from here.

pgpool-II 3.5 beta1 released (2015/12/14)

pgpool-II 3.5 beta1 and pgpoolAdmin 3.5 beta1 are now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

Users are encouraged to take part in our beta test program. Please help us in testing and making pgpool-II 3.5 better!

You can download it from here.

pgpool-II 3.5 alpha1 released (2015/11/16)

Pgpool-II 3.5 alpha1 is now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

V3.5 has a new feature:

• Improved performance in extended query protocol
• Overcoming the thundering herd problem
• watchdog feature enhancements to be more robust and adaptable
• PCP command enhancements
• Import PostgreSQL 9.5 parser
• etc.

You can download it from here.

pgpool-II 3.3 RC1 released (2013/07/25)

Pgpool-II 3.3 RC1 is now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

You can download it from here.

pgpool-II 3.3 beta1 released (2013/06/12)

Pgpool-II 3.3 beta1 is now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

Users are encouraged to take part in our beta test program. Please help us in testing and making pgpool-II 3.3 better!

You can download it from here.

pgpool-II 3.3 alpha1 released (2013/05/17)

Pgpool-II 3.3 alpha1 is now relased. This is not a stable version but just for developers.

V3.3 has a new feature:

• Enhancements for watchdog
  • New monitoring method of watchdog lifecheck using heartbeat signal
  • Interlocking of failover/failback script
  • Secure watchdog communication
  • etc.
• Othres
  • Import PostgreSQL 9.2 raw parser
  • New pgpool_setup tool
  • Support for using CREATE EXTENSION to install pgpool specific extensions

You can download it from here.

Old

See this page.

Where can I get commercial support for pgpool-II?

Some commercial packages include pgpool-II support. Consulting and annual support can be purchased from SRA OSS, Inc. Japan (http://www.sraoss.co.jp/index_en.php).