recovery_target_action — PostgreSQL configuration parameter

Specifies what action the server should take once the recovery target is reached.

At a glance

What it does

Specifies what action the server should take once the recovery target is reached. The default is pause, which means recovery will be paused. promote means the recovery process will finish and the server will start to accept connections. Finally shutdown will stop the server after reaching the recovery target.

The intended use of the pause setting is to allow queries to be executed against the database to check if this recovery target is the most desirable point for recovery. The paused state can be resumed by using pg_wal_replay_resume() (see functions_recovery_control_table), which then causes recovery to end. If this recovery target is not the desired stopping point, then shut down the server, change the recovery target settings to a later target and restart to continue recovery.

(Description quoted from the official PostgreSQL documentation.)

How to apply a change

Can be set per session with SET, per role/database with ALTER ROLE/DATABASE ... SET, or globally in postgresql.conf.

Inspect the current value and source with SHOW recovery_target_action; or SELECT name, setting, unit, context, source FROM pg_settings WHERE name = 'recovery_target_action';.

Tuning guidance

This is a point-in-time-recovery control, used only while restoring a backup, not during normal operation. Set it in the recovery configuration to define the exact stopping point or restore action you want, perform the recovery, then remove it. It has no effect on a normally running primary.

Reference

PostgreSQL documentation — recovery_target_action.