BARMAN-SWITCH-WAL(1)

💅 BARMAN-SWITCH-WAL ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the barman-switch-wal page from the Barman manual (section 1, sub-commands energy) 🎀 this is the little command that makes Postgres flip to a brand new WAL file, and honestly? she's iconic for it.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

barman-switch-wal — Barman Sub-Commands 👑

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

switch-wal
    [ --archive ]
    [ --archive-timeout ]
    [ --force ]
    [ { -h | --help } ]
    SERVER_NAME [ SERVER_NAME ... ]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So what this does is: it runs pg_switch_wal() on the target server — that's for Postgres versions 10 and later — or pg_switch_xlog() if you're on Postgres versions 8.3 to 9.6. either way, we're switching that WAL, periodt 💅

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• SERVER_NAME — the name of the server in barman node 🫶
• --archive — she waits for one WAL file to be archived. if no WAL file gets archived within the specified time (default: 30 seconds), Barman will terminate with a failure exit code 😭. this option is also available on standby servers ✨
• --archive-timeout — you're telling her how many seconds (default: 30 seconds) the archiver should wait for a new WAL file to be archived before it times out ⏳. this option is also available on standby servers too 💖
• --force — forces the switch by executing a CHECKPOINT before pg_switch_wal() 🔥

Note: running a CHECKPOINT may increase I/O load on the Postgres server, so use this option cautiously — like, she's powerful but she's loud, okay? 💀

• -h / --help — shows a help message and exits 🌈. gives you all the info about command usage, no gatekeeping 💜

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👑 Author 👑

EnterpriseDB

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💖 Copyright 💖

© Copyright EnterpriseDB UK Limited 2011-2026

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🧚 this was Barman 3.20, dated Sep 29, 2026 — no cap, go switch some WALs 💅✨🦋