Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Backup host user when backup-host is set.

Defines the user that will be used for operations on the backup server. Preferably this is not the postgres user but rather some other user like backrest. If PostgreSQL runs on the backup server the postgres user can be placed in the backrest group so it has read permissions on the repository without being able to damage the contents accidentally.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Use gzip file compression.

Backup files are compatible with command-line gzip tools.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Use a neutral umask.

Sets the umask to 0000 so modes in the repository are created in a sensible way. The default directory mode is 0750 and default file mode is 0640. The lock and log directories set the directory and file mode to 0770 and 0660 respectively.

To use the executing user's umask instead specify neutral-umask=n in the config file or --no-neutral-umask on the command line.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster data directory.

This should be the same as the data_directory setting in postgresql.conf. Even though this value can be read from postgresql.conf or the database cluster it is prudent to set it in case those resources are not available during a restore or offline backup scenario.

The db-path option is tested against the value reported by PostgreSQL on every online backup so it should always be current.

Archive WAL segments asynchronously.

WAL segments will be copied to the local repo, then a process will be forked to compress the segment and transfer it to the remote repo if configured. Control will be returned to PostgreSQL as soon as the WAL segment is copied locally.

Limit size of the local asynchronous archive queue when archive-async=y.

After the limit is reached, the following will happen:

1. pgBackRest will notify Postgres that the archive was successfully backed up, then DROP IT.
2. An error will be logged to the console and also to the Postgres log.
3. A stop file will be written in the lock directory and no more archive files will be backed up until it is removed.

If this occurs then the archive log stream will be interrupted and PITR will not be possible past that point. A new backup will be required to regain full restore capability.

The purpose of this feature is to prevent the log volume from filling up at which point Postgres will stop completely. Better to lose the backup than have PostgreSQL go down.

To start normal archiving again you'll need to remove the stop file which will be located at ${repo-path}/lock/${stanza}-archive.stop where ${repo-path} is the path set in the general section, and ${stanza} is the backup stanza.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Backup host user when backup-host is set.

Defines the user that will be used for operations on the backup server. Preferably this is not the postgres user but rather some other user like backrest. If PostgreSQL runs on the backup server the postgres user can be placed in the backrest group so it has read permissions on the repository without being able to damage the contents accidentally.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Use gzip file compression.

Backup files are compatible with command-line gzip tools.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Use a neutral umask.

Sets the umask to 0000 so modes in the repository are created in a sensible way. The default directory mode is 0750 and default file mode is 0640. The lock and log directories set the directory and file mode to 0770 and 0660 respectively.

To use the executing user's umask instead specify neutral-umask=n in the config file or --no-neutral-umask on the command line.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Path where WAL segments are spooled during async archiving.

When asynchronous archiving is enabled pgBackRest needs a local directory to store WAL segments before they are compressed and moved to the repository. Depending on the volume of WAL generated this directory could become very large so be sure to plan accordingly.

The max-archive-mb option can be used to limit the amount of WAL that will be spooled locally.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster data directory.

This should be the same as the data_directory setting in postgresql.conf. Even though this value can be read from postgresql.conf or the database cluster it is prudent to set it in case those resources are not available during a restore or offline backup scenario.

The db-path option is tested against the value reported by PostgreSQL on every online backup so it should always be current.

Check that WAL segments are present in the archive before backup completes.

Checks that all WAL segments required to make the backup consistent are present in the WAL archive. It's a good idea to leave this as the default unless you are using another method for archiving.

Copy WAL segments needed for consistency to the backup.

This slightly paranoid option protects against corruption or premature expiration in the WAL segment archive by storing the WAL segments directly in the backup. PITR won't be possible without the WAL segment archive and this option also consumes more space.

Even though WAL segments will be restored with the backup, PostgreSQL will ignore them if a recovery.conf file exists and instead use archive_command to fetch WAL segments. Specifying type=none when restoring will not create recovery.conf and force PostgreSQL to use the WAL segments in pg_xlog. This will get the database cluster to a consistent state.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Force an offline backup.

When used with --no-start-stop a backup will be run even if pgBackRest thinks that PostgreSQL is running. This option should be used with extreme care as it will likely result in a bad backup.

There are some scenarios where a backup might still be desirable under these conditions. For example, if a server crashes and the database cluster volume can only be mounted read-only, it would be a good idea to take a backup even if postmaster.pid is present. In this case it would be better to revert to the prior backup and replay WAL, but possibly there is a very important transaction in a WAL segment that did not get archived.

Hardlink files between backups.

Enable hard-linking of files in differential and incremental backups to their full backups. This gives the appearance that each backup is a full backup. Be careful, though, because modifying files that are hard-linked can affect all the backups in the set.

Manifest save threshold during backup.

Defines how often the manifest will be saved during a backup (in bytes). Saving the manifest is important because it stores the checksums and allows the resume function to work efficiently. The actual threshold used is 1% of the backup size or manifest-save-threshold, whichever is greater.

Allow resume of failed backup.

Defines whether the resume feature is enabled. Resume can greatly reduce the amount of time required to run a backup after a previous backup of the same type has failed. It adds complexity, however, so it may be desirable to disable in environments that do not require the feature.

Force a checkpoint to start backup quickly.

Forces a checkpoint (by passing y to the fast parameter of pg_start_backup()) so the backup begins immediately. Otherwise the backup will start after the next regular checkpoint.

This feature only works in PostgreSQL >= 8.4.

Stop prior failed backup on new backup.

This will only be done if an exclusive advisory lock can be acquired to demonstrate that the prior failed backup process has really stopped.

This feature relies on pg_is_in_backup() so only works on PostgreSQL >= 9.3.

The setting is disabled by default because it assumes that pgBackRest is the only process doing exclusive online backups. It depends on an advisory lock that only pgBackRest sets so it may abort other processes that do exclusive online backups. Note that base_backup and pg_dump are safe to use with this setting because they do not call pg_start_backup() so are not exclusive.

Backup type.

The following backup types are supported:

• full - all database cluster files will be copied and there will be no dependencies on previous backups.
• incr - incremental from the last successful backup.
• diff - like an incremental backup but always based on the last full backup.

Number of backups worth of WAL to retain.

Number of backups worth of archive log to keep.

Backup type for WAL retention.

If set to full pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full backups defined by retention-archive. If set to diff (differential) pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full and differential backups defined by retention-archive. If set to incr (incremental) pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full, differential, and incremental backups defined by retention-archive.

Number of differential backups to retain.

When a differential backup expires, all incremental backups associated with the differential backup will also expire. When not defined all differential backups will be kept until the full backups they depend on expire.

Number of full backups to retain.

When a full backup expires, all differential and incremental backups associated with the full backup will also expire. When not defined then all full backups will be kept.

Archive timeout.

Set maximum time, in seconds, to wait for WAL segments to reach the archive. The timeout applies to the check command and to the backup command when waiting for WAL segments required to make the backup consistent to be archived.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Use gzip file compression.

Backup files are compatible with command-line gzip tools.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Database query timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, for queries against the database. This includes the pg_start_backup() and pg_stop_backup() functions which can each take a substantial amount of time. Because of this the timeout should be kept high unless you know that these functions will return quickly (i.e. if you have set startfast=y and you know that the database cluster will not generate many WAL segments during the backup).

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Use a neutral umask.

Sets the umask to 0000 so modes in the repository are created in a sensible way. The default directory mode is 0750 and default file mode is 0640. The lock and log directories set the directory and file mode to 0770 and 0660 respectively.

To use the executing user's umask instead specify neutral-umask=n in the config file or --no-neutral-umask on the command line.

Perform an online backup.

Specifying --no-online prevents pgBackRest from running pg_start_backup() and pg_stop_backup() on the database cluster. In order for this to work PostgreSQL should be shut down and pgBackRest will generate an error if it is not.

The purpose of this option is to allow offline backups. The pg_xlog directory is copied as-is and archive-check is automatically disabled for the backup.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Max threads to use in process.

Each thread will perform compression and transfer to make the command run faster, but don't set thread-max so high that it impacts database performance.

Max time a thread can run.

This limits the amount of time (in seconds) that a thread might be stuck due to unforeseen issues executing the command. Has no affect when thread-max=1.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster host for operating remotely via SSH.

Used for backups where the database cluster host is different from the backup host.

Cluster data directory.

This should be the same as the data_directory setting in postgresql.conf. Even though this value can be read from postgresql.conf or the database cluster it is prudent to set it in case those resources are not available during a restore or offline backup scenario.

The db-path option is tested against the value reported by PostgreSQL on every online backup so it should always be current.

Cluster port.

Port that PostgreSQL is running on. This usually does not need to be specified as most database clusters run on the default port.

Cluster unix socket path.

The unix socket directory that was specified when PostgreSQL was started. pgBackRest will automatically look in the standard location for your OS so there usually no need to specify this setting unless the socket directory was explicitly modified with the unix_socket_directory setting in postgressql.conf.

Cluster host logon user when db-host is set.

This user will also own the remote pgBackRest process and will initiate connections to PostgreSQL. For this to work correctly the user should be the PostgreSQL database cluster owner which is generally postgres, the default.

Check that WAL segments are present in the archive before backup completes.

Checks that all WAL segments required to make the backup consistent are present in the WAL archive. It's a good idea to leave this as the default unless you are using another method for archiving.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Backup host user when backup-host is set.

Defines the user that will be used for operations on the backup server. Preferably this is not the postgres user but rather some other user like backrest. If PostgreSQL runs on the backup server the postgres user can be placed in the backrest group so it has read permissions on the repository without being able to damage the contents accidentally.

Archive timeout.

Set maximum time, in seconds, to wait for WAL segments to reach the archive. The timeout applies to the check command and to the backup command when waiting for WAL segments required to make the backup consistent to be archived.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Database query timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, for queries against the database. This includes the pg_start_backup() and pg_stop_backup() functions which can each take a substantial amount of time. Because of this the timeout should be kept high unless you know that these functions will return quickly (i.e. if you have set startfast=y and you know that the database cluster will not generate many WAL segments during the backup).

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Use a neutral umask.

Sets the umask to 0000 so modes in the repository are created in a sensible way. The default directory mode is 0750 and default file mode is 0640. The lock and log directories set the directory and file mode to 0770 and 0660 respectively.

To use the executing user's umask instead specify neutral-umask=n in the config file or --no-neutral-umask on the command line.

Perform an online backup.

Specifying --no-online prevents pgBackRest from running pg_start_backup() and pg_stop_backup() on the database cluster. In order for this to work PostgreSQL should be shut down and pgBackRest will generate an error if it is not.

The purpose of this option is to allow offline backups. The pg_xlog directory is copied as-is and archive-check is automatically disabled for the backup.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster host for operating remotely via SSH.

Used for backups where the database cluster host is different from the backup host.

Cluster data directory.

This should be the same as the data_directory setting in postgresql.conf. Even though this value can be read from postgresql.conf or the database cluster it is prudent to set it in case those resources are not available during a restore or offline backup scenario.

The db-path option is tested against the value reported by PostgreSQL on every online backup so it should always be current.

Cluster port.

Port that PostgreSQL is running on. This usually does not need to be specified as most database clusters run on the default port.

Cluster unix socket path.

The unix socket directory that was specified when PostgreSQL was started. pgBackRest will automatically look in the standard location for your OS so there usually no need to specify this setting unless the socket directory was explicitly modified with the unix_socket_directory setting in postgressql.conf.

Cluster host logon user when db-host is set.

This user will also own the remote pgBackRest process and will initiate connections to PostgreSQL. For this to work correctly the user should be the PostgreSQL database cluster owner which is generally postgres, the default.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Number of backups worth of WAL to retain.

Number of backups worth of archive log to keep.

Backup type for WAL retention.

If set to full pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full backups defined by retention-archive. If set to diff (differential) pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full and differential backups defined by retention-archive. If set to incr (incremental) pgBackRest will keep archive logs for the number of full, differential, and incremental backups defined by retention-archive.

Number of differential backups to retain.

When a differential backup expires, all incremental backups associated with the differential backup will also expire. When not defined all differential backups will be kept until the full backups they depend on expire.

Number of full backups to retain.

When a full backup expires, all differential and incremental backups associated with the full backup will also expire. When not defined then all full backups will be kept.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster host for operating remotely via SSH.

Used for backups where the database cluster host is different from the backup host.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Backup host user when backup-host is set.

Defines the user that will be used for operations on the backup server. Preferably this is not the postgres user but rather some other user like backrest. If PostgreSQL runs on the backup server the postgres user can be placed in the backrest group so it has read permissions on the repository without being able to damage the contents accidentally.

Output format.

The following output types are supported:

• text - Human-readable summary of backup information.
• json - Exhaustive machine-readable backup information in JSON format.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Backup host user when backup-host is set.

Defines the user that will be used for operations on the backup server. Preferably this is not the postgres user but rather some other user like backrest. If PostgreSQL runs on the backup server the postgres user can be placed in the backrest group so it has read permissions on the repository without being able to damage the contents accidentally.

Restore only specified databases.

This feature allows only selected databases to be restored. Databases not specifically included will be restored as sparse, zeroed files to save space but still allow PostgreSQL to perform recovery. After recovery the databases that were not included will not be accessible but can be removed with the drop database command.

Note that built-in databases (template0, template1, and postgres) are always restored.

The --db-include option can be passed multiple times to specify more than one database to include.

Restore using delta.

By default the PostgreSQL data and tablespace directories are expected to be present but empty. This option performs a delta restore using checksums.

Force a restore.

By itself this option forces the PostgreSQL data and tablespace paths to be completely overwritten. In combination with --delta a timestamp/size delta will be performed instead of using checksums.

Restore all symlinks.

By default symlinked directories and files are restored as normal directories and files in $PGDATA. This is because it may not be safe to restore symlinks to their original destinations on a system other than where the original backup was performed. This option restores all the symlinks just as they were on the original system where the backup was performed.

Modify the destination of a symlink.

Allows the destination file or path of a symlink to be changed on restore. This is useful for restoring to systems that have a different storage layout than the original system where the backup was generated.

Create a lock so restores on a stanza cannot run simultaneously.

Locking during restores is enabled by default but can be disabled using --no-lock. Be very careful when disabling this option because simultaneous restores to a single path might result in a corrupt cluster.

Set an option in recovery.conf.

See http://www.postgresql.org/docs/X.X/static/recovery-config.html for details on recovery.conf options (replace X.X with your PostgreSQL version). This option can be used multiple times.

Note: The restore_command option will be automatically generated but can be overridden with this option. Be careful about specifying your own restore_command as pgBackRest is designed to handle this for you. Target Recovery options (recovery_target_name, recovery_target_time, etc.) are generated automatically by pgBackRest and should not be set with this option.

Since pgBackRest does not start PostgreSQL after writing the recovery.conf file, it is always possible to edit/check recovery.conf before manually restarting.

Backup set to restore.

The backup set to be restored. latest will restore the latest backup, otherwise provide the name of the backup to restore.

Restore a tablespace into the specified directory.

Moves a tablespace to a new location during the restore. This is useful when tablespace locations are not the same on a replica, or an upgraded system has different mount points.

Since PostgreSQL 9.2 tablespace locations are not stored in pg_tablespace so moving tablespaces can be done with impunity. However, moving a tablespace to the data_directory is not recommended and may cause problems. For more information on moving tablespaces http://www.databasesoup.com/2013/11/moving-tablespaces.html is a good resource.

Restore all tablespaces into the specified directory.

By default tablespaces are restored into their original locations and while this behavior can be modified by with the tablespace-map open it is sometime preferable to remap all tablespaces to a new directory all at once. This is particularly useful for development or staging systems that may not have the same storage layout as the original system where the backup was generated.

The path specified will be the parent path used to create all the tablespaces in the backup.

Recovery target.

Defines the recovery target when --type is name, xid, or time.

Action to take when recovery target is reached.

The following actions are supported:

• pause - pause when recovery target is reached.
• promote - promote and switch timeline when recovery target is reached.
• shutdown - shutdown server when recovery target is reached.

This option is only supported on PostgreSQL >= 9.5.

Stop just before the recovery target is reached.

Defines whether recovery to the target would be exclusive (the default is inclusive) and is only valid when --type is time or xid. For example, using --target-exclusive would exclude the contents of transaction 1007 when --type=xid and --target=1007. See the recovery_target_inclusive option in the PostgreSQL docs for more information.

Recover along a timeline.

See recovery_target_timeline in the PostgreSQL docs for more information.

Recovery type.

The following recovery types are supported:

• default - recover to the end of the archive stream.
• immediate - recover only until the database becomes consistent. This option is only supported on PostgreSQL >= 9.4.
• name - recover the restore point specified in --target.
• xid - recover to the transaction id specified in --target.
• time - recover to the time specified in --target.
• preserve - preserve the existing recovery.conf file.
• none - no recovery.conf file is written so PostgreSQL will attempt to achieve consistency using WAL segments present in pg_xlog. Provide the required WAL segments or use the archive-copy setting to include them with the backup.

Buffer size for file operations.

Set the buffer size used for copy, compress, and uncompress functions. A maximum of 3 buffers will be in use at a time per thread. An additional maximum of 256K per thread may be used for zlib buffers.

pgBackRest exe path on the remote host.

Required only if the path to pgbackrest is different on the local and remote systems. If not defined, the remote exe path will be set the same as the local exe path.

Use gzip file compression.

Backup files are compatible with command-line gzip tools.

Compression level for stored files.

Sets the zlib level to be used for file compression when compress=y.

Compression level for network transfer when compress=n.

Sets the zlib level to be used for protocol compression when compress=n and the database cluster is not on the same host as the backup. Protocol compression is used to reduce network traffic but can be disabled by setting compress-level-network=0. When compress=y the compress-level-network setting is ignored and compress-level is used instead so that the file is only compressed once. SSH compression is always disabled.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

pgBackRest remote configuration file.

Sets the location of the remote configuration file. This is only required if the remote configuration file is in a different location than the local configuration file.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Use a neutral umask.

Sets the umask to 0000 so modes in the repository are created in a sensible way. The default directory mode is 0750 and default file mode is 0640. The lock and log directories set the directory and file mode to 0770 and 0660 respectively.

To use the executing user's umask instead specify neutral-umask=n in the config file or --no-neutral-umask on the command line.

Protocol timeout.

Sets the timeout, in seconds, that the master or remote process will wait for a new message to be received on the protocol layer. This prevents processes from waiting indefinitely for a message. The protocol-timeout option must be greater than the db-timeout option.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Max threads to use in process.

Each thread will perform compression and transfer to make the command run faster, but don't set thread-max so high that it impacts database performance.

Max time a thread can run.

This limits the amount of time (in seconds) that a thread might be stuck due to unforeseen issues executing the command. Has no affect when thread-max=1.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster data directory.

This should be the same as the data_directory setting in postgresql.conf. Even though this value can be read from postgresql.conf or the database cluster it is prudent to set it in case those resources are not available during a restore or offline backup scenario.

The db-path option is tested against the value reported by PostgreSQL on every online backup so it should always be current.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster host for operating remotely via SSH.

Used for backups where the database cluster host is different from the backup host.

Backup host when operating remotely via SSH.

Make sure that trusted SSH authentication is configured between the db host and the backup host.

When backing up to a locally mounted network filesystem this setting is not required.

Force all pgBackRest processes to stop.

This option will send TERM signals to all running pgBackRest processes to effect a graceful but immediate shutdown. Note that this will also shutdown processes that were initiated on another system but have remotes running on the current system. For instance, if a backup was started on the backup server then running stop --force on the database server will shutdown the backup process on the backup server.

pgBackRest configuration file.

Use this option to specify a different configuration file than the default.

Path where lock files are stored.

The lock path provides a location for pgBackRest to create lock files to prevent conflicting operations from being run concurrently.

Path where log files are stored.

The log path provides a location for pgBackRest to store log files. Note that if log-level-file=none then no log path is required.

Repository path where WAL segments and backups stored.

The repository is where pgBackRest stores backup and archives WAL segments.

If you are new to backup then it will be difficult to estimate in advance how much space you'll need. The best thing to do is take some backups then record the size of different types of backups (full/incr/diff) and measure the amount of WAL generated per day. This will give you a general idea of how much space you'll need, though of course requirements will likely change over time as your database evolves.

Command stanza.

A stanza is the configuration for a PostgreSQL database cluster that defines where it is located, how it will be backed up, archiving options, etc. Most db servers will only have one Postgres database cluster and therefore one stanza, whereas backup servers will have a stanza for every database cluster that needs to be backed up.

It is tempting to name the stanza after the primary cluster but a better name describes the databases contained in the cluster. Because the stanza name will be used for the primary and all replicas it is more appropriate to choose a name that describes the actual function of the cluster, such as app or dw, rather than the local cluster name, such as main or prod.

Level for console logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Level for file logging.

The following log levels are supported:

• off - No logging at all (not recommended)
• error - Log only errors
• warn - Log warnings and errors
• info - Log info, warnings, and errors
• detail - Log detail, info, warnings, and errors
• debug - Log debug, detail, info, warnings, and errors
• trace - Log trace (very verbose debugging), debug, info, warnings, and errors

Cluster host for operating remotely via SSH.

Used for backups where the database cluster host is different from the backup host.