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Re: pg_start_backup does not actually allow for consistent, file-level backup

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On 06/08/15 14:45, otheus uibk wrote:
The manual and in this mailing list, the claim is made that consistent,
file-level backups may be made by bracketing the file-copy operation
with the postgresql pg_start_backup and pg_stop_backup operations.  Many
people including myself have found that in some circumstances, using
"tar" to copy these files will result in an error if one of the data
files changes during the tar operation. The responses to those queries
on this mailing list are unsatisfactory ("everything is fine, trust us").

I don't really see what you find unsatisfactory on those responses? While performing the backup, the database is running and either modifying or even deleting the files. Tar does not expect that, and thus emits warnings/errors. That's clearly explained in the docs, and actually linked in one of the comments you quoted. And pg_start_backup takes care of that.

If you don't like that, you have multiple options - stop the database while performing the backup, perform file system level backup (e.g. lvm snapshot) or use tools like pg_basebackup.

regards

--
Tomas Vondra                   http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services


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