RE: Running rsync backups in pg15

Yes. We already have streaming replication. But we still rely on rsync backups for PITR. We keep two copies of rsync backups. The oldest full rsync is 7 days. We save all WALs for 8 days. We do not want to change this scheme. There are some bells and whistles during rsync to monitor the backup. With the introduction of new requirement ( need to run pg_backup_start/stop in same connection) we end up rewriting our backup scripts.

As noted earlier, I did a crash test in pg14 (which uses old functions pg_start_backup/stop in separate connections) but I did not encounter any issue like lingering backup_label file that prevents cluster restart etc. What I noticed is pg14 is nicely renaming the backup_label file before restarting the cluster.

Please (pretty please) somebody tell me (via a URL that explains is good enough) what problem is solved by introducing the new restriction of having to run pg_backup_start/stop in same connection. I am pretty sure I am missing the point… May be I should run the crash test in a different way to reproduce the issue.

From: Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com>
Sent: Friday, November 8, 2024 8:09 AM
To: pgsql-admin <pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: Running rsync backups in pg15

That looks a whole lot like the results you get from async Streaming Replication.

Which is, of course, a DR solution, NOT a backup solution.

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