---
title: "ALTER SUBSCRIPTION"
id: sql-altersubscription
pg_version: "20devel"
---
# ALTER SUBSCRIPTION — change the definition of a subscription
## Synopsis
```
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name SERVER servername
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name CONNECTION 'conninfo'
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name SET PUBLICATION publication_name [, ...] [ WITH ( publication_option [= value] [, ... ] ) ]
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name ADD PUBLICATION publication_name [, ...] [ WITH ( publication_option [= value] [, ... ] ) ]
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name DROP PUBLICATION publication_name [, ...] [ WITH ( publication_option [= value] [, ... ] ) ]
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name REFRESH PUBLICATION [ WITH ( refresh_option [= value] [, ... ] ) ]
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name REFRESH SEQUENCES
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name ENABLE
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name DISABLE
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name SET ( subscription_parameter [= value] [, ... ] )
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name SKIP ( skip_option = value )
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name OWNER TO { new_owner | CURRENT_ROLE | CURRENT_USER | SESSION_USER }
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION name RENAME TO new_name
```
## Description
`ALTER SUBSCRIPTION` can change most of the subscription properties that can be specified in [CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md).
You must own the subscription to use `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION`. To rename a subscription or alter the owner, you must have `CREATE` permission on the database. In addition, to alter the owner, you must be able to `SET ROLE` to the new owning role. If the subscription has `password_required=false`, only superusers can modify it.
When refreshing a publication we remove the relations that are no longer part of the publication and we also remove the table synchronization slots if there are any. It is necessary to remove these slots so that the resources allocated for the subscription on the remote host are released. If due to network breakdown or some other error, PostgreSQL is unable to remove the slots, an error will be reported. To proceed in this situation, the user either needs to retry the operation or disassociate the slot from the subscription and drop the subscription as explained in [DROP SUBSCRIPTION](sql-dropsubscription.md).
Commands `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... REFRESH PUBLICATION`, `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... {SET|ADD|DROP} PUBLICATION ...` with `refresh` option as `true`, `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... SET (failover = true|false)` and `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... SET (two_phase = false)` cannot be executed inside a transaction block.
Commands `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... REFRESH PUBLICATION` and `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... {SET|ADD|DROP} PUBLICATION ...` with `refresh` option as `true` also cannot be executed when the subscription has [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase) commit enabled, unless [`copy_data`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-copy-data) is `false`. See column `subtwophasestate` of [pg_subscription](catalog-pg-subscription.md) to know the actual two-phase state.
## Parameters
**`name`**
The name of a subscription whose properties are to be altered.
**`SERVER servername`**
This clause replaces the foreign server or connection string originally set by [CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md) with the foreign server `servername`.
**`CONNECTION 'conninfo'`**
This clause replaces the foreign server or connection string originally set by [CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md) with the connection string `conninfo`.
**`SET PUBLICATION publication_name`**, **`ADD PUBLICATION publication_name`**, **`DROP PUBLICATION publication_name`**
These forms change the list of subscribed publications. `SET` replaces the entire list of publications with a new list, `ADD` adds additional publications to the list of publications, and `DROP` removes the publications from the list of publications. We allow non-existent publications to be specified in `ADD` and `SET` variants so that users can add those later. See [CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md) for more information. By default, this command will also act like `REFRESH PUBLICATION`. `publication_option` specifies additional options for this operation. The supported options are: **`refresh` (`boolean`)**
When `false`, the command will not try to refresh table and sequence information. `REFRESH PUBLICATION` should then be executed separately. The default is `true`. Additionally, the options described under `REFRESH PUBLICATION` may be specified, to control the implicit refresh operation.
**`REFRESH PUBLICATION`**
Fetch missing table and sequence information from the publisher. This will start replication of tables that were added to the subscribed-to publications since [`CREATE SUBSCRIPTION`](sql-createsubscription.md) or the last invocation of `REFRESH PUBLICATION`. The system catalog [pg_subscription_rel](catalog-pg-subscription-rel.md) is updated to record all tables and sequences known to the subscription, that are still part of the publication. `refresh_option` specifies additional options for the refresh operation. The supported options are: **`copy_data` (`boolean`)**
Specifies whether to copy pre-existing data for tables and synchronize sequences in the publications that are being subscribed to when the replication starts. The default is `true`. Previously subscribed tables are not copied, even if a table's row filter `WHERE` clause has since been modified. Previously subscribed sequences are not re-synchronized. To do that, use [`ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... REFRESH SEQUENCES`](sql-altersubscription.md#sql-altersubscription-params-refresh-sequences). See [Section 29.7.1](logical-replication-sequences.md#sequence-definition-mismatches) for recommendations on how to handle any warnings about sequence definition differences between the publisher and the subscriber, which might occur when `copy_data = true`. See [the section called “Notes”](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-notes) for details of how `copy_data = true` can interact with the [`origin`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-origin) parameter. See the [`binary`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-binary) parameter of `CREATE SUBSCRIPTION` for details about copying pre-existing data in binary format.
**`REFRESH SEQUENCES`**
Re-synchronize sequence data with the publisher. Unlike [`ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... REFRESH PUBLICATION`](sql-altersubscription.md#sql-altersubscription-params-refresh-publication), which synchronizes the subscription's set of sequences with the publication (adding new and removing dropped sequences), `REFRESH SEQUENCES` will re-synchronize the sequence data for all currently subscribed sequences without changing which sequences are subscribed. Run `REFRESH PUBLICATION` first if the publication's set of sequences has changed. See [Section 29.7.1](logical-replication-sequences.md#sequence-definition-mismatches) for recommendations on how to handle any warnings about sequence definition differences between the publisher and the subscriber. See [Section 29.7.2](logical-replication-sequences.md#sequences-out-of-sync) for recommendations on how to identify and handle out-of-sync sequences.
**`ENABLE`**
Enables a previously disabled subscription, starting the logical replication worker at the end of the transaction.
**`DISABLE`**
Disables a running subscription, stopping the logical replication worker at the end of the transaction.
**`SET ( subscription_parameter [= value] [, ... ] )`**
This clause alters parameters originally set by [CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md). See there for more information. The parameters that can be altered are [`slot_name`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-slot-name), [`synchronous_commit`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-synchronous-commit), [`binary`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-binary), [`streaming`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-streaming), [`disable_on_error`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-disable-on-error), [`password_required`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-password-required), [`run_as_owner`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-run-as-owner), [`origin`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-origin), [`failover`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-failover), [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase), [`retain_dead_tuples`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-retain-dead-tuples), [`max_retention_duration`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-max-retention-duration), [`wal_receiver_timeout`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-wal-receiver-timeout), and [`conflict_log_destination`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-conflict-log-destination). Only a superuser can set `password_required = false`. When altering the [`slot_name`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-slot-name), the `failover` and `two_phase` property values of the named slot may differ from the counterpart [`failover`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-failover) and [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase) parameters specified in the subscription. When creating the slot, ensure the slot properties `failover` and `two_phase` match their counterpart parameters of the subscription. Otherwise, the slot on the publisher may behave differently from what these subscription options say: for example, the slot on the publisher could either be synced to the standbys even when the subscription's [`failover`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-failover) option is disabled or could be disabled for sync even when the subscription's [`failover`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-failover) option is enabled. The [`failover`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-failover), [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase), and [`retain_dead_tuples`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-retain-dead-tuples) parameters can only be altered when the subscription is disabled. When altering [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase) from `true` to `false`, the backend process reports an error if any prepared transactions done by the logical replication worker (from when `two_phase` parameter was still `true`) are found. You can resolve prepared transactions on the publisher node, or manually roll them back on the subscriber, and then try again. The transactions prepared by logical replication worker corresponding to a particular subscription have the following pattern: "`pg_gid_%u_%u`" (parameters: subscription `oid`, remote transaction id `xid`). To resolve such transactions manually, you need to roll back all the prepared transactions with corresponding subscription IDs in their names. Applications can check [pg_prepared_xacts](view-pg-prepared-xacts.md) to find the required prepared transactions. After the `two_phase` option is changed from `true` to `false`, the publisher will replicate the transactions again when they are committed. If the [`retain_dead_tuples`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-retain-dead-tuples) option is altered to `false` and no other subscription has this option enabled, the replication slot named "`pg_conflict_detection`", created to retain dead tuples for conflict detection, will be dropped. When the [`conflict_log_destination`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-conflict-log-destination) parameter is set to `table` or `all`, the system automatically creates the conflict log table. Conversely, if the destination is changed to `log`, the conflict log table is automatically dropped.
**`SKIP ( skip_option = value )`**
Skips applying all changes of the remote transaction. If incoming data violates any constraints, logical replication will stop until it is resolved. By using the `ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ... SKIP` command, the logical replication worker skips all data modification changes within the transaction. This option has no effect on the transactions that are already prepared by enabling [`two_phase`](sql-createsubscription.md#sql-createsubscription-params-with-two-phase) on the subscriber. After the logical replication worker successfully skips the transaction or finishes a transaction, the LSN (stored in pg_subscription.`subskiplsn`) is cleared. See [Section 29.8](logical-replication-conflicts.md) for the details of logical replication conflicts. `skip_option` specifies options for this operation. The supported option is: **`lsn` (`pg_lsn`)**
Specifies the finish LSN of the remote transaction whose changes are to be skipped by the logical replication worker. The finish LSN is the LSN at which the transaction is either committed or prepared. Skipping individual subtransactions is not supported. Setting `NONE` resets the LSN.
**`new_owner`**
The user name of the new owner of the subscription.
**`new_name`**
The new name for the subscription. When specifying a parameter of type `boolean`, the `=` `value` part can be omitted, which is equivalent to specifying `TRUE`.
## Examples
Change the publication subscribed by a subscription to `insert_only`:
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION mysub SET PUBLICATION insert_only;
Disable (stop) the subscription:
ALTER SUBSCRIPTION mysub DISABLE;
## Compatibility
`ALTER SUBSCRIPTION` is a PostgreSQL extension.
## See Also
[CREATE SUBSCRIPTION](sql-createsubscription.md), [DROP SUBSCRIPTION](sql-dropsubscription.md), [CREATE PUBLICATION](sql-createpublication.md), [ALTER PUBLICATION](sql-alterpublication.md)