Re: backup and wal files

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 14:40 -0600, Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> I haven't played with PITR, but I believe that if PostgreSQL doesn't get
> the right return code from the archive_command it will keep the WAL
> files around; maybe that's the problem.
>
> On Wed, Dec 14, 2005 at 10:57:38AM +0100, f(dot)guidi(at)libero(dot)it wrote:
> > Hello to all ...
> > I'm trying to install a backup system for my Postgresql 8.1.1 (on windows xp) using 3 wal files.
> >
> > So i change these parameters in postgresql.conf
> > checkpoint_segments = 3
> > archive_command = 'copy "%p" "D:/PostgreSQL/backup/%f"'
> >
> > I stop the database service and then restart it ...
> >
> > Before restart i have 1 wal now i have 1 wal file ...
> >
> > I start to generate data to populate wal files and postgres start to generate new wal files and copy them to the destination folder.
> >
> > The problem is that files number don't stop to increase, now i have 10 wal files in pg_xlog and 9 files in backup folder ...
> > why the backup files don't be deleted ?
> >
> > thanks a lot in advance ...
> >

Take a look in the PGDATA/pg_xlog/archive_status directory.

If the files all say ".ready" then your archive_command is not working
correctly for some reason.

Try running it manually to copy one of the files away.

Best Regards, Simon Riggs