pg_wal is taking a lot of disk space

Question

I have installed postgres in a containerized environment using docker-compose, for that I have used this docker image crunchydata/crunchy-postgres-gis:centos7-11.5-2.4.2, all was running right till I realized that PG_DIR/pg_wal is taking a lot of disk space, I don't want to use pg_archivecleanup every time nor in a cron job, but I want to configure postgres to do that automatically. please, what is the correct configuration for that?

This is my postgresql.conf file.

listen_addresses = '*'          # what IP address(es) to listen on;
port = 5432                             # (change requires restart)
unix_socket_directories = '/tmp'        # comma-separated list of directories
unix_socket_permissions = 0777          # begin with 0 to use octal notation
temp_buffers = 8MB                      # min 800kB

max_connections = 400
shared_buffers = 1536MB
effective_cache_size = 4608MB
maintenance_work_mem = 384MB
checkpoint_completion_target = 0.7
wal_buffers = 16MB
default_statistics_target = 100
random_page_cost = 1.1
effective_io_concurrency = 200
work_mem = 4MB
min_wal_size = 1GB
max_wal_size = 2GB
max_worker_processes = 4
max_parallel_workers_per_gather = 2
max_parallel_workers = 4
unix_socket_directories = '/tmp'        # comma-separated list of directories
unix_socket_permissions = 0777          # begin with 0 to use octal notation
shared_preload_libraries = 'pg_stat_statements.so'              # (change requires restart)

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# WRITE AHEAD LOG
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wal_level = hot_standby                 # minimal, archive, or hot_standby
max_wal_senders = 6             # max number of walsender processes
wal_keep_segments = 400         # in logfile segments, 16MB each; 0 disables
hot_standby = on                        # "on" allows queries during recovery
max_standby_archive_delay = 30s # max delay before canceling queries
max_standby_streaming_delay = 30s       # max delay before canceling queries
wal_receiver_status_interval = 10s      # send replies at least this often
archive_mode = on               # enables archiving; off, on, or always
# (change requires restart)
archive_command = 'pgbackrest archive-push %p'          # command to use to archive a logfile segment
# placeholders: %p = path of file to archive
#               %f = file name only
# e.g. 'test ! -f /mnt/server/archivedir/%f && cp %p /mnt/server/archivedir/%f'
archive_timeout = 60            # force a logfile segment switch after this
# number of seconds; 0 disables
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# ERROR REPORTING AND LOGGING
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
log_destination = 'stderr'              # Valid values are combinations of
logging_collector = on                  # Enable capturing of stderr and csvlog
log_directory = 'pg_log'                # directory where log files are written,
log_filename = 'postgresql-%a.log'      # log file name pattern,
log_truncate_on_rotation = on           # If on, an existing log file with the
log_rotation_age = 1d                   # Automatic rotation of logfiles will
log_rotation_size = 0                   # Automatic rotation of logfiles will
log_min_duration_statement = 0  # -1 is disabled, 0 logs all statements
log_checkpoints = on
log_connections = on
log_disconnections = on
log_line_prefix = '%t [%p]: [%l-1] user=%u,db=%d,app=%a,client=%h'
log_lock_waits = on                     # log lock waits >= deadlock_timeout
log_timezone = 'US/Eastern'
log_autovacuum_min_duration = 0 # -1 disables, 0 logs all actions and
datestyle = 'iso, mdy'
timezone = 'US/Eastern'
lc_messages = 'C'                       # locale for system error message
lc_monetary = 'C'                       # locale for monetary formatting
lc_numeric = 'C'                        # locale for number formatting
lc_time = 'C'                           # locale for time formatting
default_text_search_config = 'pg_catalog.english'

Thanks

Answer 1

You haven't shown us any evidence that pgbackrest has anything to do with this. If it is failing, you should see messages about that in the server's log file. If it is succeeding, then it should be taking up space in the archive, wherever that is, not in pg_wal.

But wal_keep_segments = 400 will lead to over 6.25GB of pg_wal being retained. I don't know if that constitutes "a lot" or not.

pg_archivecleanup isn't for cleaning up pg_wal, it is for cleaning up the archive.