Re: BUG #14963: Number of wal files are keep on increasing

Alvaro, Raghavendra,

* Alvaro Herrera (alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org) wrote:
> Raghavendra Rao J S V wrote:
> > We are taking the backup of database everyday using pg_basebackup utility. We
> > have implemented a pg_basebackup utility through shell script.This will be
> > invoked everyday at 2AM and takes the backup of database.
>
> This is a bad idea.  If you don't have a very firm grasp of how to write
> a backup system, it's better not to write it yourself, because there are
> many possible errors you can make that can lead you to end up with
> backups that look ok but are actually invalid.

Using pg_basebackup is *not* a bad idea, it's a good tool and works just
fine if used properly for a lot of environments.  The biggest concern
with pg_basebackup is making sure that the WAL is streamed with the
backup and kept (using --xlog-method=stream) and that you're checking
the results of the command to make sure it didn't error out.

Of course, with any backup solution, it's essential that backups be
fully restored and tested to make sure that they work.

There are certainly other tools out there for doing backups of PG with
their own pros and cons and while I wouldn't recommend that people try
to write their own backup software, using pg_basebackup isn't bad and we
shouldn't be telling people that.

Thanks!

Stephen