* Doug McNaught <doug@wireboard.com> [010329 15:22] wrote:
> Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev <alexey@serinbol.com> writes:
>
> > Let me rephrase the question, i have a web-based application which uses
> > postgres as its backend. It must be operating 24 hours 7 days. If i want to
> > make a backup of the database using pg_dump, wouldn't it be possible that a
> > transaction occurs in the middle of the backup, leaving the backup
> > inconsistent?
>
> I am pretty sure that pg_dump produces a consistent snapshot, using
> the same transaction isolation mechanism (MVCC) as the database
> itself. If one of the gurus posts and says otherwise, believe him,
> not me. ;)
My impression from reading the source was that it was consitant per-table
but not per-database. Meaning you'd get a consistant snapshot of a table,
but not of the entire system.
I could be wrong though.
--
-Alfred Perlstein - [bright@wintelcom.net|alfred@freebsd.org]
Represent yourself, show up at BABUG http://www.babug.org/