Re: Snapshot as Backup

MessageThe consensus from previous discussions (search for 'LVM' in the
archives) is essentially that it definitely *should* work, some people *do*
use it successfully, but that you *must* test it thoroughly in your own
setup under heavy write load before relying on it.

PG will believe it has 'crashed' when you start it from a restored snapshot,
and PG is designed to recover perfectly well from crashes. If you stop the
postmaster before the snapshot is taken then it will definitely work fine.

Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
[mailto:pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org]On Behalf Of Ed Murphy
Sent: 13 January 2004 17:16
To: pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: [ADMIN] Snapshot as Backup

Hello,

I'm using Red Hat Enterprise v2.1 and PostgreSQL v7.3.4. Our hardware
setup includes a large Storage Area Network (SAN). The systems folks are
going to utilize a snapshot type backup to backup the file system. This
snapshot will include PGDATA and all the PostgreSQL files. My question is
if I restore this snapshot will PostgreSQL work? I know if doing a typical
file system backup of PostgreSQL I must first stop the postmaster or the
backup will not produce a useable PostgreSQL system. Is it necessary to
stop the postmaster for this snapshot backup also?

Thanks,

Ed Murphy
The University of Arizona