If you need to use rsync to clone standby servers, the postgres account on your master and standby servers must be each able to access the other using SSH without a password.
First generate a ssh key, using an empty passphrase, and copy the resulting keys and a maching authorization file to a privledged user on the other system::
[postgres@node1]$ ssh-keygen -t rsa Generating public/private rsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key (/var/lib/pgsql/.ssh/id_rsa): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): Enter same passphrase again: Your identification has been saved in /var/lib/pgsql/.ssh/id_rsa. Your public key has been saved in /var/lib/pgsql/.ssh/id_rsa.pub. The key fingerprint is: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:aa:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99 postgres@db1.domain.com [postgres@node1]$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys [postgres@node1]$ chmod go-rwx ~/.ssh/* [postgres@node1]$ cd ~/.ssh [postgres@node1]$ scp id_rsa.pub id_rsa authorized_keys user@node2:
Login as a user on the other system, and install the files into the postgres user's account::
[user@node2 ~]$ sudo chown postgres.postgres authorized_keys id_rsa.pub id_rsa [user@node2 ~]$ sudo mkdir -p ~postgres/.ssh [user@node2 ~]$ sudo chown postgres.postgres ~postgres/.ssh [user@node2 ~]$ sudo mv authorized_keys id_rsa.pub id_rsa ~postgres/.ssh [user@node2 ~]$ sudo chmod -R go-rwx ~postgres/.ssh
Now test that ssh in both directions works. You may have to accept some new known hosts in the process.