Chapter 25. Backup and Restore

   Table of Contents

   25.1. SQL Dump

        25.1.1. Restoring the Dump
        25.1.2. Using pg_dumpall
        25.1.3. Handling Large Databases

   25.2. File System Level Backup
   25.3. Continuous Archiving and Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)

        25.3.1. Setting Up WAL Archiving
        25.3.2. Making a Base Backup
        25.3.3. Making an Incremental Backup
        25.3.4. Making a Base Backup Using the Low Level API
        25.3.5. Recovering Using a Continuous Archive Backup
        25.3.6. Timelines
        25.3.7. Tips and Examples
        25.3.8. Caveats

   As with everything that contains valuable data, PostgreSQL databases
   should be backed up regularly. While the procedure is essentially
   simple, it is important to have a clear understanding of the underlying
   techniques and assumptions.

   There are three fundamentally different approaches to backing up
   PostgreSQL data:
     * SQL dump
     * File system level backup
     * Continuous archiving

   Each has its own strengths and weaknesses; each is discussed in turn in
   the following sections.