diff --git a/postgres/Dockerfile b/postgres/Dockerfile
index d737976..f7024bf 100644
--- a/postgres/Dockerfile
+++ b/postgres/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 FROM postgres:latest
 COPY postgres/setup.sh /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/setup.sh
+COPY postgres/standby_setup.sh /standby_setup.sh
 RUN chmod 0666 /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/setup.sh
+RUN chmod 0700 /standby_setup.sh
diff --git a/postgres/standby_setup.sh b/postgres/standby_setup.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..045b32c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/postgres/standby_setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+
+if [ ! -s "$PGDATA/PG_VERSION" ]; then
+
+	pg_basebackup -d "host=$MASTER_NODE password=$REPLICATION_PASSWORD port=5432 user=$REPLICATION_USER" -D ${PGDATA} -vP
+
+	set -e
+
+	cat > ${PGDATA}/recovery.conf <<EOF
+
+standby_mode = on
+primary_conninfo = 'host=$MASTER_NODE password=$REPLICATION_PASSWORD port=5432 user=$REPLICATION_USER'
+trigger_file = '/tmp/touch_me_to_promote_to_me_master'
+
+EOF
+
+	chown postgres. ${PGDATA} -R
+	chmod 700 ${PGDATA} -R
+
+fi
+
+gosu postgres postgres