Backup testing

Q: How deeply does PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them cover backup testing?

Details a restore checklist from checksum and WAL validation through consistent recovery and optional page-level inspection.

As explained in PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Backup testing is the practice of restoring backups in an isolated environment to verify that the backups and recovery process work correctly.

Backup testing restores a PostgreSQL backup in a fresh testing environment to verify both the backup and the recovery procedure. A successful backup command alone does not prove that recovery will work. section 9.4

A practical restore test checks the following:

Copy the base backup into the test PGDATA directory. section 9.4
Verify the base backup with pg_verifybackup. section 9.4
Copy subsequent WAL files into the test PGDATA directory and check that they are parsable with pg_waldump. section 9.4
Start PostgreSQL, confirm recovery reaches a consistent state, and optionally inspect every relation page with pageinspect. section 9.4

The failed restore nobody tested

A company discovers that its restore command fails after its production database is lost. The backup may have been unusable, corrupted in storage, deleted, or accompanied by an unworkable recovery procedure. A restore drill exposes these failures before an emergency. section 9.4

How PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them covers it

Cover of PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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Related concepts

backup and restoreuses · Backup and restore is the practice of preserving copies of data or system state and using them to recover it after loss, damage, or failure.
recoverymeasures · Recovery is the process of restoring access, data, computation, or system operation to an acceptable state after failure, loss, or disruption.
pg_verifybackupused by · pg_verifybackup is a PostgreSQL command-line utility that verifies the integrity of a base backup.
testkind of · A test is a procedure or check that evaluates behavior using specified inputs or evidence against expected results or criteria.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of PostgreSQL Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.