| From: | Fabrizio Castelli <brizio(dot)castelli(at)gmail(dot)com> |
|---|---|
| To: | pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org |
| Subject: | [WIP] pg_restore -j with IAM authentication fails on reconnect (expiring credentials) |
| Date: | 2026-10-09 10:50:36 |
| Message-ID: | CAEEjhOLiD=WwLko78MZr+N3cLGSR2_kxe0bEf0HNdMrd=R4B4A@mail.gmail.com |
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| Lists: | pgsql-hackers |
Hello hackers,
I'd like design feedback on a problem I'm hitting with parallel restores
and short-lived credentials.
*Context*: Cloud IAM authentication (AWS RDS/Aurora PostgreSQL) uses tokens
that are valid for a fixed window — 15 minutes — supplied through the
password channel.
*Problem: *A parallel pg_restore -j N that runs longer than the token
lifetime fails on the leader's postfork reconnect with FATAL: ...
authentication failed.
*The jobs uses to reconnect and the reconnect reuses the password cached at
first connect* (AH->savedPassword), and an explicit password makes libpq
skip PGPASSFILE/PGPASSWORD resolution* — so a freshly *refreshed* token is
ignored and the expired one is replayed*.
This is correct for static passwords but incompatible with expiring
credentials (like IAM token)
*Possible solutions*:
1. An opt-in option to re-resolve the password on reconnect: pass no
explicit password and let libpq resolve per-connection, with the user
keeping a current token in the passfile/env. Default would preserve current
behavior (e.g. --no-reuse-password / --reconnect-password=reuse|resolve).
2. Alternatively, avoid the leader reconnect so no re-auth is needed —
though this may affect resource usage and cuts against the current phased
design, so I see it as the weaker option.
*Could this direction be agreed ? *At the moment this issue is blocking the
possibility to work with IAM and having multiple jobs for restoring a db
(at the moment this means to make a choice between security and performance)
Thanks a lot in advance,
Fabrizio
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