How to setup postgres application_name logging

Question

I'm not much familiar with postgresql. I like to setup postgres application_name feature to log database changes (update/delete) in a history table.

I tried to find any help from online but couldn't find any article with basic steps. Could someone give me any kind of help.

Thanks alot!

Answer 1

Using a application_name is great idea. It has a two steps:

1. logging application name - set log_line_prefix in postgresql.conf

   log_line_prefix = '%a %u %d' 

2. use application name - use SQL configuration statement or variable in connection string or environment variable

   SET application_name = 'myapp';

   or

   postgresql://other@localhost/otherdb?connect_timeout=10&application_name=myapp

   or

   PGAPPNAME=splunk psql -c "select application_name from pg_stat_activity where pid = pg_backend_pid();" postgres

some documentation

• related PostgreSQL doc
• Overwriting a application name in psql (for psql based script identificati