Skip to content

PG-1523 Rework uninstallation documentation #486

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
wants to merge 1 commit into
base: TDE_REL_17_STABLE
Choose a base branch
from

Conversation

AndersAstrand
Copy link
Collaborator

This commit rearranges the uninstallation documentation and adds instructions for disabling WAL encryption.

@AndersAstrand AndersAstrand force-pushed the tde/rework-uninstallation-instructions branch from e23d3d7 to feb9ebc Compare July 24, 2025 12:23
This commit rearranges the uninstallation documentation and adds
instructions for disabling WAL encryption.
@AndersAstrand AndersAstrand force-pushed the tde/rework-uninstallation-instructions branch from feb9ebc to c843707 Compare July 24, 2025 12:24
To uninstall `pg_tde`, follow these steps:

## 1. Drop the pg_tde extension from all databases
Copy link
Collaborator

@Andriciuc Andriciuc Jul 25, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

change to ## Step 1. Drop the extension from all databases and continue with Step 2... throughout

To uninstall `pg_tde`, follow these steps:

## 1. Drop the pg_tde extension from all databases

For all databases where the extensions is loaded you need to follow these steps. This also includes the template databases, in case `pg_tde` was previously enabled there.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Before uninstalling pg_tde, you must remove the extension from every database where it is loaded. This includes template databases if pg_tde was previously enabled there.

@@ -25,6 +26,8 @@ To uninstall `pg_tde`, follow these steps:
DROP EXTENSION pg_tde;
```

If there are any encrypted objects that were not previously decrypted or deleted, this command will fail and you have to follow the step above for these objects.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

!!! note

If there are any encrypted objects that were not previously decrypted or deleted, this command will fail and you have to follow the step above for these objects.

## 1. Drop the pg_tde extension from all databases

For all databases where the extensions is loaded you need to follow these steps. This also includes the template databases, in case `pg_tde` was previously enabled there.

1. Decrypt or drop encrypted tables:
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

You must clean up all encrypted tables in each database:

  • To decrypt a table, switch it back to the default storage method:

    ALTER TABLE <table_name> SET ACCESS METHOD heap;
  • To discard the data**, simply drop the encrypted tables:

    DROP TABLE <table_name>;
  1. Remove the extension

    Once all encrypted tables have been handled, drop the extension from the database:

    DROP EXTENSION pg_tde;


5. Modify the `shared_preload_libraries` and remove the 'pg_tde' from it. Use the `ALTER SYSTEM` command for this purpose, or edit the configuration file.
1. Run `ALTER SYSTEM SET pg_tde.wal_encrypt=off;`
Copy link
Collaborator

@Andriciuc Andriciuc Jul 25, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

(remove the numbering format)

  • Disable WAL encryption by running:

    ALTER SYSTEM SET pg_tde.wal_encrypt=off;

!!! warning
Once `pg_tde` is removed from the `shared_preload_libraries`, reading any leftover encrypted files will fail. Removing the extension from the `shared_preload_libraries` is also possible if the extension is still installed in some databases.
Make sure to do this only if the server has no encrypted files in its data directory.
2. Restart the `postgresql` cluster to apply the changes.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

  • Restart the PostgreSQL cluster to apply the change:

    • ....


```sh
sudo systemctl restart postgresql-17

Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

missing closing ```

!!! note
Encrypted WAL pages will not be decrypted, so any postgres cluster needing to read them will need the `pg_tde` library loaded, and the WAL encryption keys used available.

At this point, the shared library is still loaded but inactive. Follow these steps to completely uninstall it.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

At this point, the shared library is still loaded but no longer active. To fully uninstall pg_tde, complete the steps below.


postgres=#
```
2. Remove `pg_tde` from the list and apply the new setting using `ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_preload_libraries=<your list of libraries>`
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Remove pg_tde from the list and apply the new setting using ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_preload_libraries=<your list of libraries>. For example: ...

At this point, the shared library is still loaded but inactive. Follow these steps to completely uninstall it.

1. Run `SHOW shared_preload_libraries` to view the current configuration of preloaded libraries.
Example:
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

For example: ...

postgres=# ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements,auto_explain;
ALTER SYSTEM
postgres=#
```
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

space needed between ``` and !!!

@@ -57,3 +103,16 @@ To uninstall `pg_tde`, follow these steps:
```sh
sudo systemctl restart postgresql-17
```

## 4. (optional) Cleanup
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

(Optional) Clean up configuration


At this point it is safe to remove any configuration related to pg_tde from `postgresql.conf` and `postgresql.auto.conf`. These configuration options have the prefix `pg_tde.`

## Potential issues
Copy link
Collaborator

@Andriciuc Andriciuc Jul 25, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

edit to ## Troubleshooting

with subtopic ### WAL encryption not disabled

@@ -57,3 +103,16 @@ To uninstall `pg_tde`, follow these steps:
```sh
sudo systemctl restart postgresql-17
```

Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

for these last two steps below, please remove the spaces before of the paragraphs completely.

Copy link
Collaborator

@Andriciuc Andriciuc left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Once all the changes are made, let me have another look just to be safe, thank you very much!

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Labels
None yet
Projects
None yet
Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants