Re: Out of space making backup

On 26/12/2009 12:44 AM, Brian Modra wrote:

> use select pg_start_backup('some-name') (in psql logged in a postres)
> then start a tar of /var/lib/pgsql/data/, to stdout and pipe this to
> tar on another server using ssh

This won't work on a Windows machine. Windows does not permit files that
are open for write by one process to be opened by another, unless the
first process makes special efforts to permit it.

In general, people get around this by using the Volume Shadow Copy
Service (VSS) via dedicated backup software. This takes a consistent
snapshot of the file system and permits the backup software to access
that snapshot.

If you were going to take filesystem-level backups on Windows, that'd be
how you'd want to do it - have a pre hook in your backup software that
called pg_start_backup() and a post hook that called pg_stop_backup(),
letting the backup software handle the snapshot and filesystem copy.

--
Craig Ringer