On Mon, 2008-05-05 at 09:10 -0700, Craig James wrote: > Campbell, Lance wrote: > > We currently backup all of our database tables per schema using pg_dump > > every half hour. We have been noticing that the database performance > > has been very poor during the backup process. How can I improve the > > performance? > > It sounds like the goal is to have frequent, near-real-time backups of > your databases for recovery purposes. Maybe instead of looking at > pg_dump's performance, a better solution would be a replication system > such as Slony, or a "warm backup" using Skype Tools. > > Backing up the database every half hour puts a large load on the > system during the dump, and means you are re-dumping the same data, 48 > times per day. If you use a replication solution, the backup process > is continuous (spread out through the day), and you're not re-dumping > static data; the only data that moves around is the new data. > > I've used Slony with mixed success; depending on the complexity and > size of your database, it can be quite effective. I've heard very > good reports about Skype Tools, which has both a Slony-like replicator > (not as configurable as Slony, but easier to set up and use), plus an > entirely separate set of scripts that simplifies "warm standby" using > WAL logging. I think we should mention Warm Standby via pg_standby, which is part of core software and documentation. Seems strange not to mention it at all. -- Simon Riggs 2ndQuadrant http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
