file-system snapshot under freebsd for backup

In response to ProAce <proace@gmail.com>:

I already put the data directory on hds san storage, but there is no
snapshot license on it.
Could I use mksnap_ffs under freebsd to make snapshot for backup ?

Maybe. I'm confused by your question, but:
* If the data directory is on an FFS2 volume on a FreeBSD machine, you
can use mksnap_ffs to back it up, and that approach is actually
recommended for PITR-type backups.
* If the data is mounted via NFS or something similar and the filesystem
is not FFS2, then snapshots are not available on FreeBSD.

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com

The size of my db is more then 50GB , so I consider that the pg_dump
is not a good backup tool for me.
And, sometimes, I need query data which is some days ago ( between 1 ~
14 days ).

If I want to transfer my db to different PG version, I will use slony-I. :)

I worried that mksnap_ffs spend much time on making a new snapshot.
I don't know whether PG work very well during the period of making snapshot.
Or the snapshot be made successfully when the PG execute / commit sql
statments continuously.

2007/8/2, Naz Gassiep <naz@mira.net>:

Have you considered using pg_dump to backup your databases? Taking
file-level snapshots is not recommended as you may want/need to restore to a
different version of PG that is not binary compatible with the snapshot
you've taken.
Regards,
- Naz.

ProAce wrote:
I already put the data directory on hds san storage, but there is
no

snapshot license on it.
Could I use mksnap_ffs under freebsd to make

snapshot for backup ?

---------------------------(end of

broadcast)---------------------------

TIP 6: explain

I use SAN, not NAS. :)

Because some bugdet issue, I just have a basic SAN environment.
For multipathing, I use geom_fox to complete.
For snapshot, I want to use mksnap_ffs.

But I don't have any experience of using mksnap_ffs to backup pgsql.
Does anyone give me some advice?

2007/8/2, Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com>:

In response to ProAce <proace@gmail.com>:

I use SAN, not NAS. :)

Because some bugdet issue, I just have a basic SAN environment.
For multipathing, I use geom_fox to complete.
For snapshot, I want to use mksnap_ffs.

But I don't have any experience of using mksnap_ffs to backup pgsql.
Does anyone give me some advice?

If you don't want to do PITR, read this:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/backup-file.html

You can also use the mount command to make filesystem snapshots.
Assuming your PG data directory is under the mount point /var/db:

mount -o snapshot -u /var/db/snapshot /var/db
mdconfig -a -t vnode -f /var/db/snapshot -u 4
mount -r /dev/md4 /mnt
[ ... do whatever you do to back up /mnt (which is the snapshot of
/var/db ...]
umount /mnt
mdconfig -d -u 4
rm /var/db/snapshot

2007/8/2, Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com>:

Maybe. I'm confused by your question, but:
* If the data directory is on an FFS2 volume on a FreeBSD machine, you
can use mksnap_ffs to back it up, and that approach is actually
recommended for PITR-type backups.
* If the data is mounted via NFS or something similar and the filesystem
is not FFS2, then snapshots are not available on FreeBSD.

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com

--
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com

On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 09:49:42PM +0800, ProAce wrote:

The size of my db is more then 50GB , so I consider that the pg_dump
is not a good backup tool for me.
And, sometimes, I need query data which is some days ago ( between 1 ~
14 days ).

If I want to transfer my db to different PG version, I will use slony-I. :)

I worried that mksnap_ffs spend much time on making a new snapshot.
I don't know whether PG work very well during the period of making snapshot.
Or the snapshot be made successfully when the PG execute / commit sql
statments continuously.

If you're worried then just use PITR with a more conventional copy
mechanism. You don't have to use snapshots.
--
Decibel!, aka Jim Nasby decibel@decibel.org
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com 512.569.9461 (cell)