failing to run barman backup

[anarcat]

Hi,

I've tried to follow the streaming replication setup in the documentation. I have a valid password for the backup server to connect to the psql server, and it seems to work, barman check is mostly ok except the WAL archive line:

barman@backup-storage-01:~$ barman check  weather-01
Server weather-01:
        WAL archive: FAILED (please make sure WAL shipping is setup)
        PostgreSQL: OK
        superuser or standard user with backup privileges: OK
        PostgreSQL streaming: OK
        wal_level: OK
        replication slot: OK
        directories: OK
        retention policy settings: OK
        backup maximum age: OK (no last_backup_maximum_age provided)
        backup minimum size: OK (0 B)
        wal maximum age: OK (no last_wal_maximum_age provided)
        wal size: OK (0 B)
        compression settings: OK
        failed backups: OK (there are 0 failed backups)
        minimum redundancy requirements: OK (have 0 backups, expected at least 0)
        pg_basebackup: OK
        pg_basebackup compatible: OK
        pg_basebackup supports tablespaces mapping: OK
        systemid coherence: OK (no system Id stored on disk)
        pg_receivexlog: OK
        pg_receivexlog compatible: OK
        receive-wal running: OK
        archiver errors: OK

So I tried to setup the archive_command (which i assume is what WAL shipping refers to), even though i have streaming replciation going and an actual WAL file in /var//lib/barman/weather-01/streaming/0000000100000019000000DE.partial.

When I run barman backup weather-01 it fails with:

ERROR: Impossible to start the backup. Check the log for more details, or run 'barman check weather-01'

and the logfile says:

2024-09-23 20:24:35,596 [756535] barman.server ERROR: Check 'WAL archive' failed for server 'weather-01'
2024-09-23 20:24:18,006 [756530] barman.server ERROR: Impossible to start the backup. Check the log for more details, or run 'barman check weather-01'

what am i missing? i don't have an SSH connection from the backup server to the postgresql server (since it doesn't seem to me that's necessary), is that the missing bit?