Re: [PATCH] pg_stat_activity: make slow/hanging authentication more visible

On Fri, Nov 8, 2024 at 4:23 PM Jacob Champion
<jacob(dot)champion(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> wrote:
> While I work on breaking pgstat_bestart() apart, here is a v6 which
> pushes down the "coarse" wait events. No changes to 0001 yet.

v7 rewrites 0001 by splitting pgstat_bestart() into three phases.
(0002-3 are unchanged.)

1. pgstat_bestart_initial() reports STATE_STARTING, fills in the early
fields and clears out the rest.
2. pgstat_bestart_security() reports the SSL/GSS status of the
connection. This is only for backends with a valid MyProcPort; they
call it twice.
3. pgstat_bestart_final() fills in the user and database IDs, takes
the entry out of STATE_STARTING, and reports the application_name.

I was wondering if maybe I should fill in application_name before
taking the entry out of STATE_STARTING, in order to establish the rule
that "starting" pgstat entries are always partially filled, and that
DBAs can rely on their full contents once they've proceeded past it.
Thoughts?

I've added machinery to 001_ssltests.pl to make sure we see early
transport security stats prior to user authentication. This overlaps
quite a bit with the new 007_pre_auth.pl, so if we'd rather not have
the latter (as briefly discussed upthread) I can move the rest of it
over.

Thanks,
--Jacob