9.3.2
Table Of Contents
- Using VMware vFabric Postgres
- Contents
- Preface
- VMware Customizations for PostgreSQL
- Installing vFabric Postgres
- vFabric Postgres Client Tools and Libraries
- Managing vFabric Postgres
- Migrate PostgreSQL Data from Earlier Versions Into vFabric Postgres 9.3
- Migrate PostgreSQL Data Into vFabric Postgres
- Restarting the vFabric Postgres Service
- Connection to a vFabric Postgres Database
- Accounts and Services
- Safeguarding Data
- About vFabric Postgres Replication
- Create a Replication User Account
- Create a Replica Server
- Promote a Replica Database to Primary Database
- Monitoring Replication Status
- Using Perl and Python Language Extensions
- Viewing Performance Statistics
- Troubleshooting Guidelines
- Using the Graphical User Interface
- Index
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Archive recovery.
About pg_rman for vFabric Postgres
The following features and operational details are specific to the implementation of pg_rman supplied with
vFabric Postgres.
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The vFabric Postgres virtual appliance is optimized with environment variables to minimize the
command strings of pg_rman. The Postgres data directory and backup directory are set for the user
postgres in the .bashrc file.
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You configure pg_rman backups using the configuration file pg_rman.ini. The file is located in the
directory /var/vmware/vpostgres/9.3-archive/backup/pg_rman.ini. You can manually edit the
pg_rman.ini file to change your database's backup configuration settings.
The default configuration maintains two generations of full backups (KEEP_DATA_GENERATIONS=1), and
seven days of data (KEEP_DATA_DAYS=7). Only backups satisfying both conditions are automatically
removed.
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The pg_rman utility maintains seven days of archives (and 100 files) by default.
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Incremental and archive backups are taken at specific time intervals.
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Logs of backups are available in /var/vmware/vpostgres/log/ in the file pg_rman_$BACKUPMODE_
$TIMESTAMP.log.
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The backup directory is /var/vmware/vpostgres/9.3-archive/backup. The storage space available to the
backup partition is 10 GB. The WAL archive is limited to 2 GB.
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You schedule backups to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals using the cron utility. The
default backup plan provides a rolling, full backup once a week.
The cron files to schedule backups are located in /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/etc. The files are
pg_rman_daily.cron, pg_rman_weekly.cron and pg_rman_monthly.cron, and provide full backups daily,
weekly and monthly. You can create your own customized backup plan using the default cron files as a
template.
For additional information on the use of pg_rman in safeguarding your vFabric Postgres databases, refer to
the open source community's documentation for PostgresSQL Recovery Manager 1.2.7.
Backup Types
You manage backups and recover data using vFabric Postgres full backups, incremental backups, and
archive recovery.
Full Backups
Full backups are complete copies of the database saved to a datastore separate from the database. This
section describes the pros and cons of using full backups.
Full backups use about the same amount of storage as the database itself. Because they reside on a separate
disk from the database, full backups provide resiliency and benefits such as the following.
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Full backups protect against data loss due to failure of the primary data storage device.
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Full backup storage is more cost effective than using the primary data storage for backups.
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You can extend the data disk as needed.
The following are points to consider about using full backups.
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Full backups can take a long time. Large amounts of data must be copied across devices.
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Each backup uses the full size of the data disk on the backup storage device.
Chapter 4 Managing vFabric Postgres
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