Almost everything that we've discussed so far has lead directly to this chapter. By now, we have multiple servers, redundant alternates, backup, synchronization, and much more. If we combine all of these techniques, management becomes more difficult with each component we add.

In the previous chapter, we covered all of the elements for a robust and elastic storage structure. Even then, we noted the arduous nature of moving a running server from one node to another. Typing commands safely takes time, as does conferring with a checklist and verifying commands before running them in a production environment. We would never recommend anything less.

Finally, we will learn how to configure the two linked nodes to manage themselves. It's not entirely foolproof, yet the process we are about to undergo is robust and implemented safely by many enterprises. Instead of a dozen commands to move an active PostgreSQL instance to another server, we will need only one. Further, the software can...