Growing a live database

[Rick Genter <rick.genter@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have a PostgreSQL 8.4.4 database that is running 24/7. The drive that the database is on is becoming full and I need to expand it. We are currently doing log-shipping of the WAL files to a slave system to run in a hot standby mode. I have two servers: S1 (currently running as master) and S2 (currently running as slave)

My current plan is to do the following:

- fail S1 over to S2 by doing pg_ctl stop on S1, then ending the recovery process on S2 and let it come up as the master

- add a new larger drive to S1

- swap roles; backup S2 and restore it on S1, then start log shipping from S2 to S1

- let the S1 "catch up" on the log files from S2

- fail S2 back over to S1 by doing pg_ctl stop on S2, then ending the recovery process on S1 and let it come up as the master

- add a new larger drive to S2

- backup S1 and restore it on S2, then start log shipping from S1 to S2

I believe that this accomplishes the goal (increasing available drive space) with a minimum amount of down time. Am I thinking correctly, or have I missed something?

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Rick Genter
rick.genter@xxxxxxxxx