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LWLock: SyncRep

Waiting to read or update information about the state of synchronous replication
PostgreSQL wait event dossier
ClassLWLock EventSyncRep VersionsPG 13-18 Evidence3 source location(s)

Official description

Waiting to read or update information about the state of synchronous replication

PG 13 PG 14 PG 15 PG 16 PG 17 PG 18

Trigger mechanism

SyncRepLock protects synchronous-replication queues and shared sender state. Committers enqueue or inspect their wait position while WAL senders update which LSNs the configured synchronous standbys have acknowledged.

Normal or trouble?

  • Normal: Small bursts occur as synchronous commits queue and WAL senders publish acknowledgements.
  • Investigate: Sustained SyncRep LWLock contention is different from waiting for a standby acknowledgement: it means queue/state coordination itself is hot, usually under extreme commit concurrency or sender churn.

Diagnostic SQL

Sessions waiting on LWLock/SyncRep
SELECT pid, backend_type, usename, datname, application_name,
       state, now() - query_start AS query_age,
       now() - xact_start AS xact_age,
       wait_event_type, wait_event,
       pg_blocking_pids(pid) AS blocking_pids,
       left(query, 160) AS query
FROM pg_stat_activity
WHERE wait_event_type = 'LWLock'
  AND wait_event = 'SyncRep'
ORDER BY query_age DESC NULLS LAST;
Current LWLock cohort
SELECT wait_event, count(*) AS waiting_sessions,
       count(*) FILTER (WHERE state = 'active') AS active_waiters,
       max(now() - query_start) AS oldest_query
FROM pg_stat_activity
WHERE wait_event_type = 'LWLock'
GROUP BY wait_event
ORDER BY waiting_sessions DESC, wait_event;
Lock and relation context for these sessions
SELECT a.pid, l.locktype, l.mode, l.granted, l.fastpath,
       d.datname, n.nspname, c.relname,
       l.page, l.tuple, l.virtualxid, l.transactionid,
       l.classid, l.objid, l.objsubid
FROM pg_stat_activity AS a
LEFT JOIN pg_locks AS l ON l.pid = a.pid
LEFT JOIN pg_database AS d ON d.oid = l.database
LEFT JOIN pg_class AS c
  ON c.oid = l.relation
 AND l.database = (
       SELECT oid FROM pg_database WHERE datname = current_database()
     )
LEFT JOIN pg_namespace AS n ON n.oid = c.relnamespace
WHERE a.wait_event_type = 'LWLock'
  AND a.wait_event = 'SyncRep'
ORDER BY a.pid, l.granted, l.locktype, l.mode;

Response

  1. Separate LWLock/SyncRep from IPC/SyncRep and replication-lag waits.
  2. Inspect synchronous standby health, sender churn, and commit rate.
  3. Stabilize replication and smooth commit bursts; change durability policy only with explicit incident authority.

Source evidence

Typical incident pattern

A standby flaps while a burst of synchronous committers repeatedly enters and leaves the wait queue, making queue coordination visible as LWLock/SyncRep.