10 PostgreSQL Backup Best Practices

PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source relational database system. It has a strong reputation for reliability, feature robustness, and performance.

Because of its importance, it’s crucial to have a solid backup and recovery strategy in place for your PostgreSQL database. In this article, we’ll discuss 10 PostgreSQL backup best practices that you can use to ensure your data is safe and sound.

1. Use pg_dump

Pg_dump is a utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database. It produces a portable, consistent backup that can be used with pg_restore to restore the database to its original state.

The main advantage of using pg_dump is that it is very flexible and can be customized to fit your specific needs. For example, you can use it to create a compressed backup file, or you can exclude certain tables from the backup.

Another advantage of using pg_dump is that it is very fast. It can take advantage of multiple processors and can even be run in parallel with other processes.

Finally, pg_dump is included in most PostgreSQL distributions, so you don’t need to install any additional software to use it.

2. Use pg_dumpall

pg_dumpall is a utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database. It dumps all of the information in the database, including the schema and data. This is important because it means you have a complete backup of your database.

If you only use pg_dump, you will not get the schema information, which means you will not be able to restore your database to its original state. In addition, pg_dump only dumps the data, not the structure of the tables. This means that if you make any changes to the structure of your tables, you will not be able to restore your database to its original state.

The bottom line is that pg_dumpall is the best way to ensure that you have a complete backup of your PostgreSQL database.

3. Use Continuous Archiving and Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)

PITR provides the ability to restore your database to any point in time, which is essential for data recovery in the event of data loss. Continuous Archiving ensures that all changes to your database are recorded in an archive, so you can always go back and recover lost data.

When used together, these two features provide a robust backup and disaster recovery solution for PostgreSQL.

4. Use a third party backup tool like ClusterControl

A third party backup tool can automate your backups, schedule them to run at regular intervals, and even send you alerts if something goes wrong. This takes the burden off of you and your team, so you can focus on other tasks.

Additionally, a third party backup tool can provide you with more features and options than PostgreSQL’s built-in backup tools. For example, ClusterControl lets you choose which data to back up, whether to compress the backups, and how to store the backups (locally or in the cloud).

Finally, using a third party backup tool can make it easier to restore your data if something goes wrong. With ClusterControl, you can easily restore your data to any point in time, so you don’t have to worry about losing any recent changes.

5. Backup your database frequently

If you only backup your database once a week, and something goes wrong on Wednesday, you could lose up to six days worth of data. If you backup your database daily, you would only lose one day worth of data.

It’s also important to have more than one backup. If you only have one backup and it becomes corrupt, you have no way to recover your data. Having multiple backups gives you a better chance of being able to recover your data if one of the backups becomes corrupt.

6. Store backups in a safe place

If you store your backups on the same server as your database, and that server crashes, you could lose both your database and your backups. So it’s important to store them in a separate, safe location.

There are a few different options for where to store your backups:

– On a separate server
– In the cloud (e.g., Amazon S3)
– On an external hard drive

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that’s right for your needs.

If you decide to store your backups on a separate server, make sure that server is located in a different physical location than your database server. That way, if there’s a fire or other disaster at one location, your backups will be safe.

If you store your backups in the cloud, you’ll need to choose a provider that offers reliable, secure storage. Amazon S3 is a popular option, but there are others available as well.

Finally, if you store your backups on an external hard drive, make sure to keep that drive in a safe place. A fireproof safe is a good option, or you could keep it in a bank vault.

7. Test your backups regularly

Your backups are only as good as your ability to restore them. If you don’t test your backups, you won’t know if they’re actually working until you need them—and by then, it might be too late.

Testing your backups is the only way to be sure that they can be restored successfully. To do this, you’ll need to restore your backups to a test environment and verify that all of the data is intact and accessible.

If you find that your backups are not working properly, you’ll need to troubleshoot the issue and fix it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you could be in for a nasty surprise the next time you need to restore your data.

8. Don’t forget to backup WAL files

WAL files are write-ahead log files. They contain all the information that’s needed to replay the changes made to the database since the last backup. That means if you lose your WAL files, you won’t be able to restore your database to a consistent state.

Make sure you’re backing up your WAL files regularly. And if you’re using streaming replication, make sure you’re also backing up the WAL files on the standby server.

9. Keep the PostgreSQL configuration file safe

The PostgreSQL configuration file contains all of the information that PostgreSQL needs to know in order to start up and function properly. This includes information about the database itself, as well as the user accounts that are allowed to access it.

If this file were to become corrupted or lost, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to recover the data in the database. For this reason, it’s important to make sure that the PostgreSQL configuration file is backed up along with the rest of the database.

10. Avoid using DROP DATABASE command

When you drop a database, all of the data in that database is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. In most cases, you will want to keep your data so that you can restore it if necessary.

If you need to delete a database, use the DROP TABLE command instead. This will delete the table and its data, but the database will still exist.