Hey folks,
I just had a question or two on backups of a
production database. I have just recently started people
using PostgreSQL, and it's gone very smoothly. Tonight,
I installed and configured the "PostgreSQL Backup Script"
(http://database.sourceforge.net/index.php?area=postgresql),
and it _appears_ to do exactly what I want.
While the databases I'm backing up are simply
personal, not-for-profit website stuff, I want to make sure
I'm doing things correctly. Hence, my questions:
1) To anyone using this script - are there any 'gotchas' that
I should be aware of? I'm not experienced in DB administration,
so I wanted to ask the experts. Ie, if I have a disk failure,
does this script back up _everything_ I need to restore from
a fresh install of PostgreSQL (not worrying about different
PostgreSQL versions right now)?
2) I'm running it with options 'bva', as in backup, vacuum,
and analyze all databases. Is it OK to do this while
PostgreSQL is up and in production state, or should I really
shut it down while this runs? The entire run takes under
2 minutes, so if it takes a shutdown/startup, that's fine
with me.
If any folks with more experience (95% of you) could share your
thoughts and/or advice, I'd appreciate it. :)
Benny
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great'
landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
--Rules of the Air, #8