Re: Using cp to back up a database?

On Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 9:41 AM, Ron Johnson <ron(dot)l(dot)johnson(at)cox(dot)net> wrote:

> On 10/09/2017 11:33 AM, Jeff Janes wrote:
>
> On Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 6:40 AM, Ron Johnson <ron(dot)l(dot)johnson(at)cox(dot)net> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> v8.4.20
>>
>> This is what the current backup script uses:
>>
>> /usr/bin/psql -U postgres -c "SELECT pg_start_backup('Incrementalba
>> ckup',true);"
>> cp -r /var/lib/pgsql/data/* $dumpdir/data/
>> /usr/bin/psql -U postgres template1 -c "SELECT pg_stop_backup();"
>>
>>
> That's fine, as long as you have a wal archive. Although I don't know
> what is "Incremental" about it.
>
>
> From reading the docs, that field is just a label with no intrinsic
> meaning.
>

Its purpose is to communicate with you. If the person who implemented my
backup solution is attempting to communicate with me, and I have no idea
what that communication means, then that makes me quite nervous.

Cheers,

Jeff