Re: Server Backup: pg_dump vs pg_dumpall

On 2009-07-20, APseudoUtopia <apseudoutopia(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
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> Hey,
>
> I'm writing a backup script. Right now, I only have one database on my
> postgresql server. I'm deciding if I should use pg_dump or pg_dumpall when
> backing up the server. As far as I can tell, pg_dumpall cannot compress the
> dumps automatically and it only dumps data in the standard SQL text file
> format. This means that I would not be able to use pg_restore to selectively
> restore the database, correct?
>
> What is *NOT* included in a pg_dump that IS in pg_dumpall (Other than all
> the databases)? Things like user-defined functions and datatypes? Roles?
> Views?

roles mostly AIUI

> I was leaning towards pg_dumpall, but then I realized that it only dumps in
> the standard SQL text file format, and it cannot be compressed
> automatically.

you can pipe its product through your favourite stream compressor (lzma, bzip2,
gzip etc)