Re: Restoring databases using only data/ dir

Was the backup of the directory done with the postgresql server running
or stopped? I am going to guess that the server was running and that
the disk image was changing as the backup was made...

Tom Lane wrote:

>Afra <aa4(at)cse(dot)buffalo(dot)edu> writes:
>
>
>>Now, the old server was running postgres 7.1. So I installed the same
>>version in house and moved over the data/ directory from the backup tar
>>file to the newly build data directory:
>>
>>
>
>
>
>># mv backup/pgsql/data/global /usr/local/psql/data/
>># mv backup/pgsql/data/base /usr/local/psql/data/
>># mv backup/pgsql/data/pg_xlog /usr/local/psql/data
>>
>>
>
>Okay, this should have worked given that both machines were the same
>architecture --- you could possibly have got burnt by endianness or
>alignment issues otherwise.
>
>
>
>>Postgres starts up fine after the move, but then I cannot actually
>>retrieve any databases:
>>$ pg_dump wdcx > wdcx
>>pg_dump: couldn't find the pg_database entry.
>>There is no entry in the 'pg_database' table for this database.
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>Odd thing is, the database is in there and Postgres knows it:
>>$ createdb wdcx
>>ERROR: CREATE DATABASE: database "wdcx" already exists
>>createdb: database creation failed
>>
>>
>
>That is mighty suggestive. I'm thinking that the indexes on pg_database
>are corrupt. Are you able to connect to template1 and do "select * from
>pg_database"? If so, what do you see? If not, what happens exactly?
>
> regards, tom lane
>
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