pg_dump consistency.

Hi all,

I have been reading but cannot find this particular bit of info.

I need to guarantee to my customer that the pg_dump is consistent. I
couldn't guarantee consistency if the pg_dump is run while the db is
on-line, and we cannot take the db off-line to do backups.

So, can anyone tell me
1. IF pg_dump is consistent (without taking the db offline),
2. if so, how does it do it?
3. if not, how can we get consistent backups without taking the db
offline?

Thanks.

Marc Wrubleski