Steve, thanks for your response and your question. Ok, here is some clarification on the WAL file name used in the example below. The WAL file name I used in the example is actually 000000010000000000000088, and the backup file name is 000000010000000000000088.0089ED8C.backup. The WAL file 000000010000000000000088 exists in the data/pg_xlog directory after the backup run is completed. The problem for me is that it wasn't copied to the archive directory. Since this is a test machine and not much db activity occurring on this server, there have been 6 additional WAL files added to the pg_xlog directory in the last 6 hours since the last backup was performed. Drew ----- Original Message ---- From: "steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: windsurferdrew-pg@xxxxxxxxx Cc: pgsql-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 4:36:24 PM Subject: Re: [ADMIN] WAL files during a backup 00000001000000000000223387 would usually be the next WAL to be written. How often are you WALs written out? On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:07:17 -0700 (PDT), windsurferdrew-pg@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > I have a question regarding the WAL files that are moved during a backup to > the "archive directory". > > I have setup the postgresql.conf file to have the following archive > command: > > archive_command = 'cp -i %p /var/lib/pgsql/backups/%f </dev/null' > > Environment: > PG Version 8.1.4 > OS: Linux 2.6.18-8.el5 > > After I have run the pg_hotbackup script, the backups directory contains > only 2 files: > 1. The gzipped tar file pg_hotbackup_<timestamp>.tar.gz, and > 2. a WAL file ".backup" file, (for example > 00000001000000000000223387.0089ED8C.backup) > > The actual WAL file did not get copied to the backups directory. From the > example above, I would have expected at least 1 WAL file named > 00000001000000000000223387 to be in the backups directory. > > My questions are: > 1. Is this normal behavior? (perhaps no activity in the DB to cause a WAL > file write during the backup?) > 2. If I try to restore the DB without this WAL file, will the restore > fail? > > Thanks in advance > > Drew > > >
