This feature is EA ; you must enable it by adding the xcluster_enable_ddl_replication flag to the allowed_preview_flags_csv list and setting it to true on yb-master in both universes.

Before setting up xCluster replication, ensure you have reviewed the Prerequisites and Best practices.

DDLs must be paused on the Primary universe during the entire setup process. #26053

The following assumes you have set up Primary and Standby universes. Refer to Set up yugabyted universes. The yugabyted node must be started with --backup_daemon=true to initialize the backup/restore agent.

  1. Create a checkpoint on the Primary universe for all the databases that you want to be part of the replication.

    ./bin/yugabyted xcluster create_checkpoint \
    --replication_id <replication_id> \
    --databases <comma_separated_database_names> \
    --automatic_mode

    The command informs you how to perform the needed bootstraps -- databases must always be bootstrapped in automatic mode. For example:

    +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                yugabyted                                |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Status               : xCluster create checkpoint success.              |
| Bootstrapping        : Bootstrap is required for database `yugabyte`.   |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
For each database which requires bootstrap run the following commands to perform a backup and restore.
 Run on source:
./yugabyted backup --cloud_storage_uri <AWS/GCP/local cloud storage uri>  --database <database_name> --base_dir <base_dir of source node>
 Run on target:
./yugabyted restore --cloud_storage_uri <AWS/GCP/local cloud storage uri>  --database <database_name> --base_dir <base_dir of target node>

  2. Perform a full copy of the database(s) on the Primary to the Standby using distributed backup and restore.

    A full copy is needed here: it is not sufficient to just set up the same schemas on both sides via DDLs, even if there is no data. That will not properly set up some internal metadata including Postgres OIDs.

  3. Enable point in time restore (PITR) on the database(s) on both the Primary and Standby universes:

    ./bin/yugabyted configure point_in_time_recovery \
    --enable \
    --retention <retention_period> \
    --database <database_name>

    The retention_period must be greater than the amount of time you expect the Primary universe to be down before it self recovers or before you perform a failover to the Standby universe.

  4. Set up the xCluster replication.

    ./bin/yugabyted xcluster set_up \
    --target_address <ip_of_any_target_cluster_node> \
    --replication_id <replication_id> \
    --bootstrap_done

    You should see output similar to the following:

    +-----------------------------------------------+
|                   yugabyted                   |
+-----------------------------------------------+
| Status        : xCluster set-up successful.   |
+-----------------------------------------------+

The following assumes you have set up Primary and Standby universes. Refer to Set up universes.

  1. Create a checkpoint using the create_xcluster_checkpoint command, providing a name for the replication group, and the names of the databases to replicate as a comma-separated list.

    ./bin/yb-admin \
    -master_addresses <primary_master_addresses> \
    create_xcluster_checkpoint \
    <replication_group_id> \
    <comma_separated_namespace_names> \
    automatic_ddl_mode

    Note that automatic mode always requires bootstrapping databases so you will need to backup and restore the databases. Sample command output:

    Waiting for checkpointing of database(s) to complete
Checkpointing of yugabyte completed. Bootstrap is required for setting up xCluster replication
Successfully checkpointed databases for xCluster replication group repl_group1
Perform a distributed Backup of database(s) [yugabyte] and Restore them on the target universe
Once the above step(s) complete run 'setup_xcluster_replication'

    You can also manually check the status as follows:

    ./bin/yb-admin \
-master_addresses 127.0.0.1:7100,127.0.0.2:7100,127.0.0.3:7100 \
is_xcluster_bootstrap_required repl_group1 yugabyte

    You should see output similar to the following:

    Waiting for checkpointing of database(s) to complete
Checkpointing of yugabyte completed. Bootstrap is required for setting up xCluster replication

  2. Perform a full copy of the database on the Primary to the Standby using distributed backup and restore. See Distributed snapshots for YSQL.

    A full copy is needed here: it is not sufficient to just set up the same schemas on both sides via DDLs, even if there is no data. That will not properly set up some internal metadata including Postgres OIDs.

  3. Enable point in time restore (PITR) on the database(s) on both the Primary and Standby universes:

    ./bin/yb-admin \
    -master_addresses <standby_master_addresses> \
    create_snapshot_schedule \
    <snapshot-interval> \
    <retention-time> \
    <ysql.database_name>

    The retention-time must be greater than the amount of time you expect the Primary universe to be down before it self recovers or before you perform a failover to the Standby universe.

  4. Set up the xCluster replication group.

    ./bin/yb-admin \
-master_addresses <primary_master_addresses> \
setup_xcluster_replication \
<replication_group_id> \
<standby_master_addresses>

    You should see output similar to the following:

    xCluster Replication group repl_group1 setup successfully