Re: PITR as Online Backup Solution

On Fri, 2006-03-03 at 12:03 -0600, Thomas F. O'Connell wrote:
> On Mar 3, 2006, at 11:54 AM, Simon Riggs wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 2006-03-02 at 16:38 -0600, Thomas F. O'Connell wrote:
> >> Ideally, I'd be able to take a base backup of a production system,
> >> copy it to a remote system, which is also the repository for segment
> >> files generated by archive_command, and complete the recovery process
> >> outlined in the docs. From that point, it would make sense to me that
> >> I should be able to continuously replay WAL files against the new
> >> database (possibly as soon as archive_command generates a new one)
> >> without having to purge my data directory. Is that a reasonable
> >> assumption?
> >
> > Yes, it was designed to be able to do this.
>
> From the docs, I'm having a hard time determining which steps to
> edit or omit in order to execute this scenario. Is it possible for
> you (or anyone else on the list) to present an extension of section
> 23.3.3 <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/backup-
> online.html#BACKUP-PITR-RECOVERY> that covered the continuous replay
> scenario? I'd be happy to help contribute a patch to the docs once I
> understand the procedure a bit better.

The place the primary backs up to is the place where the secondary
restores from, otherwise all procedures are as documented. Neither
system knows about the other, so its simpler than maybe you think.

The only thing you need is the wait-for-next-file script.

Best Regards, Simon Riggs