Re: Backup routine

In article <200308110313(dot)h7B3DCv06482(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>,
Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>Also, I assume you have to stop the server just for a moment while you
>do the freeze, right?

It depends on if you need known state or just consistent state.

Taking a snapshot of the system will get you a consistent state just like
if the machine crashed. You can restore that snapshot, bring PG back up
and everything will work. Of course, you really have no way of knowing
what transactions were commited and what were not.

On the other hand, stop the server/snapshot/start the server gives you not
only consistency, but a known state. That is, you know for sure that
whatever was done before you stopped the server is what was done.

Which approach is necessary for you depends on your needs, I as always.

mrc
--
Mike Castle dalgoda(at)ix(dot)netcom(dot)com www.netcom.com/~dalgoda/
We are all of us living in the shadow of Manhattan. -- Watchmen
fatal ("You are in a maze of twisty compiler features, all different"); -- gcc