Re: Best pg_dump practices

>> pg_dump -c -f dumpfile.sql dbname
>
>> This will give me the data in its original, pristine form. Note that
> using pg_dump this way means that the data gets
>> dumped as copy too. Is there a way to dump only the db objects (ie.
> tables, sequences, etc) and exclude the data.
>
> The -s (--schema-only) flag dumps only the schema, not the data... At
> least according to pg_dump --help
>

It does in fact work as the manual describes. I've used it. What I usualy
do for back-ups though, although you wouldn't want to do this for a huge
database or with sensitive data, is

#!/bin/bash
NAIL=/usr/local/bin/nail
OUTPUT_FILE=dbname_`date +%Y%m%d`
OUTPUT_PATH=/tmp/

# Dump schema and data for backup
pg_dump -U dbname username > ${OUTPUT_PATH}${OUTPUT_FILE}.sql

# Compress for mailing
gzip ${OUTPUT_PATH}${OUTPUT_FILE}.sql

# Send it off-site
echo | ${NAIL} -a ${OUTPUT_PATH}${OUTPUT_FILE}.sql.gz -s ${OUTPUT_FILE}
btober_at_computer_dot_org

OUTPUT_FILE=globals_`date +%Y%m%d`
OUTPUT_PATH=/tmp/

# Dump user and group names for backup
pg_dumpall -g -U postgres > ${OUTPUT_PATH}${OUTPUT_FILE}.sql

# Send it off-site
echo | ${NAIL} -a ${OUTPUT_PATH}${OUTPUT_FILE}.sql -s ${OUTPUT_FILE}
btober_at_computer_dot_org

~Berend Tober