Re: error message in PITR restore:

Mark Steben
Senior Database Administrator
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-----Original Message-----
From: Simon Riggs [mailto:simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com]
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 12:30 PM
To: Mark Steben
Cc: pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: [ADMIN] error message in PITR restore:

On Fri, 2008-05-16 at 11:35 -0400, Mark Steben wrote:

> I'm in the process of implementing PITR backups and restores and
> learning as I practice. I restored
>
> Using tar -xzf (backup-name) followed by restarting postgres and
> having the server replay the logs.
>
> I used a recovery_target_time of 1 day prior to current_date
> Postgres seems to come up OK but
>

Did you use pg_start_backup()?

That sequence of events can occur if the backup_label file is missing,
since that won't constrain the stop point from being earlier than it
should be. Is there a backup_label file as part of the tar?
[Mark Steben]

--
Simon Riggs www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Training, Services and Support

[Mark Steben]

You may have hit on the issue. I started a tar, then realized that I did
not do a 'start backup' so I cancelled the tar then issued the
'start_backup' and 'restarted' the tar.

Now when I issue another start-backup I get the 'checkpoint request failed'
error.

There is a 'backup_label_old' file as part of the data cluster but not
A backup_label.

Simon, I think you uncovered the problem but I don't see anyway around it
Short of reloading the db from a pg_dump backup. Any suggestions would
Be appreciated. Thanks,

Mark