Re: backups

Thanks for the quick answer Scott. I thought so but wanted to double-check.
I was asked by the person who performs our system backups if just backing up
the directory where I put the nightly backups (created with pg_dump) was
enough. I also have them backing up /var/lib/pgsql and everything under
that and they're complaining that it's taking too long. I would think we
would also want to back up the pg_xlog directory though. Or is that
overkill? Is there a standard in the PG community I should follow? Is just
performing the pg_dump and saving that to tape enough? I just don't want to
get bit in the butt if I tell him to not back something up that should be
backed up.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Marlowe [mailto:smarlowe(at)g2switchworks(dot)com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 11:57 AM
To: mcelroy, tim
Cc: 'pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org'
Subject: Re: [ADMIN] backups

On Wed, 2006-05-10 at 10:49, mcelroy, tim wrote:
> Greetings,
>
>
>
> Does the pg_dump command 'backup' the pg_xlog files?

No. Those are internal files used by the database to maintain
transactional integrity. The pg_dump command backs up the database as
snapshotted at a specific point of time.

What are you trying to accomplish?