Re: pg_basebackup --incremental

I'm certain this is all in the User Guide:
$ grep -rh archive $PGDATA/postgresql.conf*
archive_mode = on
#archive_command = '/bin/true'
archive_command = 'pgbackrest --stanza=nfs archive-push %p'

Since changing archive_mode requires a restart, but
changing archive_command just requires a reload, it's useful to have both
of those archive_command lines in your config. Always keep "archive_mode =
on" but disable it by setting archive_command to /bin/true (which will be a
rare occurrence).

On Wed, Oct 29, 2025 at 1:40 PM Sam Stearns <sam(dot)stearns(at)dat(dot)com> wrote:

> Hi Ron,
>
> If I may, please. What are the postgres.conf parameters you set
> specifically for pgBackRest?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sam
>
> On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM Sam Stearns <sam(dot)stearns(at)dat(dot)com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Ron! We'll take another look at pgBackRest.
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 10:52 AM Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 1: 43 PM Sam Stearns <sam. stearns@ dat. com>
>>> wrote: Howdy, We're running version 17. 6. Would anyone be able to point me
>>> to, or provide, some sample use cases / scripts / usage to deploy a
>>> pg_basebackup full + --incremental
>>> ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart
>>> This Message Is From an External Sender
>>> This message came from outside your organization.
>>>
>>> ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd
>>> On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM Sam Stearns <sam(dot)stearns(at)dat(dot)com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Howdy,
>>>>
>>>> We're running version 17.6. Would anyone be able to point me to, or
>>>> provide, some sample use cases / scripts / usage to deploy a pg_basebackup
>>>> full + --incremental strategy as a backup solution, please?
>>>>
>>>
>>> The question confuses me a bit (though maybe because weekly "full", and
>>> remainder "incremental" is pretty standard). PgBackRest really is quite
>>> simple and easy to configure if you back up to a local mount point (even
>>> when that mount point is NFS).
>>>
>>> This is in the "postgres" crontab:
>>> 15 01 * * Sun Type=full; pgbackrest backup --stanza=nfs --type=$Type &>
>>> logs/pgbackrest_$(date +"\%F_\%T")_${Type}.log
>>> 15 01 * * 1-6 Type=incr; pgbackrest backup --stanza=nfs --type=$Type &>
>>> logs/pgbackrest_$(date +"\%F_\%T")_${Type}.log
>>>
>>> And this is my /etc/pgbackrest.conf:
>>> [global]
>>> repo1-path=/Database/backups/pgbackrest
>>> repo1-cipher-type=aes-256-cbc
>>> repo1-cipher-pass=<redacted>
>>> repo1-bundle=y
>>> repo1-bundle-limit=20MiB
>>> repo1-bundle-size=200MiB
>>> [nfs]
>>> pg1-path=/Database/17/data
>>> resume=n
>>> start-fast=y
>>> stop-auto=y
>>> compress-type=zst
>>> log-level-console=detail
>>> log-level-file=info
>>> log-path=/var/lib/pgsql/logs/pgbackrest
>>> retention-full=4
>>> process-max=<nproc * 3/4>
>>> [nfs:archive-push]
>>> compress-type=zst
>>>
>>> --
>>> Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
>>> Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
>>> <Redacted> lobster!
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Samuel Stearns
>> Team Lead - Database
>> c: 971 762 6879 | o: 971 762 6879 | DAT.com
>>
>>
>> <https://www.dat.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=DAT_email_signature_link>
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> Samuel Stearns
> Team Lead - Database
> c: 971 762 6879 | o: 971 762 6879 | DAT.com
>
> <https://www.dat.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=DAT_email_signature_link>
>
>

--
Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
<Redacted> lobster!