Re: Proper way to restore from a basebackup without the WAL-files?

On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Kevin Grittner <kgrittn(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 11:47 AM, John Scalia <jayknowsunix(at)gmail(dot)com>
> wrote:
>
> > If you absolutely must use the pg_basebackup as your source and I'm
> assuming
> > you have a tarball without any of WAL files, you could expand the tarball
> > into you data directory, and use pg_resetxlog to "fool" the master into
> > starting up. I only say "fool" as it just builds you a blank WAL file
> which
> > this system can use as its integrity check and properly start.
>
> Please note that this will generally leave you with a corrupted
> cluster; you would be well advised to follow the advice in the
> documentation:
>
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/interactive/app-pgresetxlog.html
>
> | After running this command, it should be possible to start the
> | server, but bear in mind that the database might contain
> | inconsistent data due to partially-committed transactions. You
> | should immediately dump your data, run initdb, and reload. After
> | reload, check for inconsistencies and repair as needed.
>
> --
> Kevin Grittner
> EDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
> The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
>
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-admin mailing list (pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org)
> To make changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-admin
>

Hopefully this is just a one-off occurrence where you needed to do this.
The best thing long term would be to ensure you're backing up the WAL files
along with pg_basebackup. Use the -X option with pg_basebackup so you have
a consistent backup that can be started on its own. Or make sure you're
backing up your WAL files another way (archive_command on master,
pg_receivexlogs, etc).