Re: pgbackrest question

On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 10:49 PM Zechman, Derek S <
Derek(dot)S(dot)Zechman(at)snapon(dot)com> wrote:

> I agree, why – what is the point of archiving wals outside of backup to a
> different location? This is a general want to learn question and not a
> critque. Thanks. Thinking outloud – I would think you would want wals in
> the same location outside of backup
>

pgbackrest:
1. does not know about WALs that aren't in its directory structure, so
can't use them, and
2. needs a full backup as a starting point.

> so pgbackrest can restore to any time outside of the backup window for
> optimal point in time recovery.
>

This really confuses me. You *seem* to be saying (i.e., my interpretation
of what you wrote is) that pgbackrest can only restore to those narrow
windows when pgbackrest is running a full, differential or incremental
backup. But that's just not true.

This, for example, restored an instance to 2024-08-13 19:00 even though
no backup was running at that time:
readonly MajVer=17
readonly NewPGData=/path/to/${MajVer}/data
declare -i Threads=`nproc`-2
readonly BackupSet=20240811-010005F_20240813-000004I
readonly RestoreUntil="2024-08-13 19:00"

set -x
pgbackrest restore \
--stanza=<stanza> \
--log-level-file=detail \
--log-level-console=detail \
--process-max=${Threads} \
--pg1-path=$NewPGData \
--set=$BackupSet \
--type=time --target="${RestoreUntil}"

If I'm misunderstanding you, please clarify.

>
> *From:* Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 22, 2026 4:22 PM
> *To:* pgsql-admin <pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org>
> *Subject:* Re: pgbackrest question
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 4: 13 PM Murthy Nunna <mnunna@ fnal. gov> wrote:
> Hi, I am new to pgbackrest… Using pgbackrest is it possible to run a backup
> that includes WALs that spans the duration of the backup ONLY. I prefer to
> archive WALs outside
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 4:13 PM Murthy Nunna <mnunna(at)fnal(dot)gov> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> I am new to pgbackrest… Using pgbackrest is it possible to run a backup
> that includes WALs that spans the duration of the backup ONLY. I prefer to
> archive WALs outside of pgbackrest for the routine archiving.
>
>
>
> Why? pgbackrest does a great job managing WALs and data backups, keeping
> everything consistent.
>
>
>
> More importantly, during restore, pgbackrest assumes that all the WALs
> will be where it thinks they are. Thus, while the backups *might* work,
> restores would fail.
>
>
>
> And if that is possible, can I use such a backup for PITR by providing the
> required WALs that go beyond the backup duration?
>
>
>
> This is something I can do today using pg_basebackup. I am looking to
> mimic this using pgbackrest.
>
>
>
> pgbackrest is not pg_basebackup; do not try to make pgbackrest act like
> pg_basebackup.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Death to <Redacted>, and butter sauce.
>
> Don't boil me, I'm still alive.
>
> <Redacted> lobster!
>

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