[Pgpool-general] installing and configuring pgpool-II

[Richard Yen]

Hi,

Does anyone know how to configure pgpool-II?  I've searched around on  
the web, and haven't found anything really informative.

Primarily, I'm looking to figure out the following, just to get me  
started:

1. What's the difference between system_db_* and backend_* parameters  
for the pgpool.conf file?
2. How do I get replication working?  Do I need to set up the same  
data schema on all nodes and just let it go, or do I need to set up a  
separate replication schema, much like how Slony-I does it?
3. How do I get connection pooling to work?  I started pgpool-II up  
with the following backend parameters, but I always get connected to  
db1-dev:


> # system DB info
> system_db_hostname = 'db1-dev'
> system_db_port = 5432
> system_db_dbname = 'pgpool'
> system_db_schema = 'pgpool_catalog'
> system_db_user = 'pgpool'
> system_db_password = ''
>
> # backend_hostname, backend_port, backend_weight
> # here are examples
> backend_hostname1 = 'db2-dev'
> backend_port1     = 5432
> backend_weight1   = 1
>
> backend_hostname2 = 'db3-dev'
> backend_port2     = 5432
> backend_weight2   = 1
>
> backend_hostname3 = 'db4-dev'
> backend_port3     = 5432
> backend_weight3   = 5
>

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
--Richard