# Server Ping Command (server-ping)

> Reference for pgBackRest `server-ping` command options and behavior.

---

LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt)

---

> Source: [pgBackRest Command Docs: server-ping](https://pgbackrest.org/command.html#command-server-ping)

Ping a pgBackRest TLS server to ensure it is accepting connections. This serves as an aliveness check only since no authentication is attempted.

If no host is specified on the command-line then the `tls-server-host` option will be used.

## Command Options

### TLS Server Address Option (`--tls-server-address`)

TLS server address.

IP address the server will listen on for client requests.

```yaml
default: localhost
example: --tls-server-address=*
```

### TLS Server Port Option (`--tls-server-port`)

TLS server port.

Port the server will listen on for client requests.

```yaml
default: 8432
allowed: [1, 65535]
example: --tls-server-port=8000
```

## General Options

### Allow Run as Root Option (`--allow-root`)

Allow the command to run as the root user.

By default only the `restore` command may be run as the root user since it is designed to carefully manage file ownership. Running other commands as root risks creating files (e.g. in the repository) that are owned by root and therefore inaccessible to the PostgreSQL user, causing later commands to fail.

Enable this option to run a command as root anyway. However, it is far better to run pgBackRest as the user that owns the repository and PostgreSQL cluster.

```yaml
default: n
example: --allow-root
```

### Buffer Size Option (`--buffer-size`)

Buffer size for I/O operations.

Buffer size used for copy, compress, encrypt, and other operations. The number of buffers used depends on options and each operation may use additional memory, e.g. `gz` compression may use an additional 256KiB of memory.

Allowed values are `16KiB`, `32KiB`, `64KiB`, `128KiB`, `256KiB`, `512KiB`, `1MiB`, `2MiB`, `4MiB`, `8MiB`, and `16MiB`.

```yaml
default: 1MiB
example: --buffer-size=2MiB
```

### Config Option (`--config`)

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

```yaml
default: CFGOPTDEF_CONFIG_PATH "/" PROJECT_CONFIG_FILE
example: --config=/conf/pgbackrest/pgbackrest.conf
```

### Config Include Path Option (`--config-include-path`)

Path to additional pgBackRest configuration files.

Configuration files existing in the specified location with extension `.conf` will be concatenated with the pgBackRest configuration file, resulting in one configuration file.

```yaml
default: CFGOPTDEF_CONFIG_PATH "/" PROJECT_CONFIG_INCLUDE_PATH
example: --config-include-path=/conf/pgbackrest/conf.d
```

### Config Path Option (`--config-path`)

Base path of pgBackRest configuration files.

This setting is used to override the default base path setting for the `--config` and `--config-include-path` options unless they are explicitly set on the command-line.

For example, passing only `--config-path=/conf/pgbackrest` results in the `--config` default being set to `/conf/pgbackrest/pgbackrest.conf` and the `--config-include-path` default being set to `/conf/pgbackrest/conf.d`.

```yaml
default: CFGOPTDEF_CONFIG_PATH
example: --config-path=/conf/pgbackrest
```

### I/O Timeout Option (`--io-timeout`)

I/O timeout.

Timeout, in seconds, used for connections and read/write operations.

Note that the entire read/write operation does not need to complete within this timeout but *some* progress must be made, even if it is only a single byte.

```yaml
default: 1m
allowed: [100ms, 1h]
example: --io-timeout=120
```

### Set Process Priority Option (`--priority`)

Set process priority.

Defines how much priority (i.e. niceness) will be given to the process by the kernel scheduler. Positive values decrease priority and negative values increase priority. In most case processes do not have permission to increase their priority.

```yaml
allowed: [-20, 19]
example: --priority=19
```

### Keep Alive Option (`--sck-keep-alive`)

Keep-alive enable.

Enables keep-alive messages on socket connections.

```yaml
default: y
example: --no-sck-keep-alive
```

### Keep Alive Count Option (`--tcp-keep-alive-count`)

Keep-alive count.

Specifies the number of TCP keep-alive messages that can be lost before the connection is considered dead.

This option is available on systems that support the `TCP_KEEPCNT` socket option.

```yaml
allowed: [1, 32]
example: --tcp-keep-alive-count=3
```

### Keep Alive Idle Option (`--tcp-keep-alive-idle`)

Keep-alive idle time.

Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) with no network activity after which the operating system should send a TCP keep-alive message.

This option is available on systems that support the `TCP_KEEPIDLE` socket option.

```yaml
allowed: [1, 3600]
example: --tcp-keep-alive-idle=60
```

### Keep Alive Interval Option (`--tcp-keep-alive-interval`)

Keep-alive interval time.

Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) after which a TCP keep-alive message that has not been acknowledged should be retransmitted.

This option is available on systems that support the `TCP_KEEPINTVL` socket option.

```yaml
allowed: [1, 900]
example: --tcp-keep-alive-interval=30
```

### TLSv1.2 cipher suites Option (`--tls-cipher-12`)

Allowed TLSv1.2 cipher suites.

All TLS connections between the pgBackRest client and server are encrypted. By default, connections to objects stores (e.g. S3) are also encrypted.

> **NOTE:** The absolute minimum security level for any transport connection is TLSv1.2.

The accepted cipher suites can be adjusted if need arises. The example is reasonable choice unless you have specific security requirements. If unset (the default), the default of the underlying OpenSSL library applies.

```yaml
example: --tls-cipher-12=HIGH:MEDIUM:+3DES:!aNULL
```

### TLSv1.3 cipher suites Option (`--tls-cipher-13`)

Allowed TLSv1.3 cipher suites.

All TLS connections between the pgBackRest client and server are encrypted. By default, connections to objects stores (e.g. S3) are also encrypted.

> **NOTE:** The absolute minimum security level for any transport connection is TLSv1.2.

The accepted cipher suites can be adjusted if need arises. If unset (the default), the default of the underlying OpenSSL library applies.

```yaml
example: --tls-cipher-13=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256
```

## Log Options

### Console Log Level Option (`--log-level-console`)

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

- `off` - No logging at all (not recommended)
- `error` - Log only errors
- `warn` - Log warnings and errors
- `info` - Log info, warnings, and errors
- `detail` - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `debug` - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `trace` - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

```yaml
default: warn
example: --log-level-console=error
```

### File Log Level Option (`--log-level-file`)

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

- `off` - No logging at all (not recommended)
- `error` - Log only errors
- `warn` - Log warnings and errors
- `info` - Log info, warnings, and errors
- `detail` - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `debug` - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `trace` - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

```yaml
default: info
example: --log-level-file=debug
```

### Std Error Log Level Option (`--log-level-stderr`)

Level for stderr logging.

Specifies which log levels will output to `stderr` rather than `stdout` (specified by `log-level-console`). The timestamp and process will not be output to `stderr`.

The following log levels are supported:

- `off` - No logging at all (not recommended)
- `error` - Log only errors
- `warn` - Log warnings and errors
- `info` - Log info, warnings, and errors
- `detail` - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `debug` - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
- `trace` - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

```yaml
default: off
example: --log-level-stderr=error
```

### Log Path Option (`--log-path`)

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if `log-level-file=off` then no log path is required.

```yaml
default: /var/log/pgbackrest
example: --log-path=/backup/db/log
```

### Log Timestamp Option (`--log-timestamp`)

Enable timestamp in logging.

Enables the timestamp in console and file logging. This option is disabled in special situations such as generating documentation.

```yaml
default: y
example: --no-log-timestamp
```