Consistent pg_dump's

Started by Alexey Rodriguez Yakushevabout 25 years ago5 messagesgeneral
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#1Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev
alexey@serinbol.com

Are pg_dump's consistent? Do i have to shutdown the system in order to make
a pg_dump? What other alternatives are for backing up a database without
shutting down the system in order to allow consistent backups?
Another question: Can the rows that haven't been vaccumed yet retrieved?

Thanks for your help. Bye!!

Alexey

#2Manuel Sugawara
masm@fciencias.unam.mx
In reply to: Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev (#1)
Re: Consistent pg_dump's

Doug McNaught <doug@wireboard.com> writes:

I am pretty sure that pg_dump produces a consistent snapshot, using
the same transaction isolation mechanism (MVCC) as the database
itself. If one of the gurus posts and says otherwise, believe him,
not me. ;)

Yes, you are right, this is done in pg_dump with the command:

set transaction isolation level serializable

Regards,
Manuel.

#3Doug McNaught
doug@wireboard.com
In reply to: Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev (#1)
Re: Consistent pg_dump's

Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev <alexey@serinbol.com> writes:

Let me rephrase the question, i have a web-based application which uses
postgres as its backend. It must be operating 24 hours 7 days. If i want to
make a backup of the database using pg_dump, wouldn't it be possible that a
transaction occurs in the middle of the backup, leaving the backup
inconsistent?

I am pretty sure that pg_dump produces a consistent snapshot, using
the same transaction isolation mechanism (MVCC) as the database
itself. If one of the gurus posts and says otherwise, believe him,
not me. ;)

-Doug

#4Alfred Perlstein
bright@wintelcom.net
In reply to: Doug McNaught (#3)
Re: Consistent pg_dump's

* Doug McNaught <doug@wireboard.com> [010329 15:22] wrote:

Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev <alexey@serinbol.com> writes:

Let me rephrase the question, i have a web-based application which uses
postgres as its backend. It must be operating 24 hours 7 days. If i want to
make a backup of the database using pg_dump, wouldn't it be possible that a
transaction occurs in the middle of the backup, leaving the backup
inconsistent?

I am pretty sure that pg_dump produces a consistent snapshot, using
the same transaction isolation mechanism (MVCC) as the database
itself. If one of the gurus posts and says otherwise, believe him,
not me. ;)

My impression from reading the source was that it was consitant per-table
but not per-database. Meaning you'd get a consistant snapshot of a table,
but not of the entire system.

I could be wrong though.

--
-Alfred Perlstein - [bright@wintelcom.net|alfred@freebsd.org]
Represent yourself, show up at BABUG http://www.babug.org/

#5Gregory Wood
gregw@com-stock.com
In reply to: Alexey Rodriguez Yakushev (#1)
Re: Consistent pg_dump's

I am pretty sure that pg_dump produces a consistent snapshot, using
the same transaction isolation mechanism (MVCC) as the database
itself. If one of the gurus posts and says otherwise, believe him,
not me. ;)

My impression from reading the source was that it was consitant per-table
but not per-database. Meaning you'd get a consistant snapshot of a table,
but not of the entire system.

I could be wrong though.

I hope so... that could break some foreign key dependencies pretty badly...

Greg