Book Image

Learn PostgreSQL - Second Edition

By : Luca Ferrari, Enrico Pirozzi
1 (2)
Book Image

Learn PostgreSQL - Second Edition

1 (2)
By: Luca Ferrari, Enrico Pirozzi

Overview of this book

The latest edition of this PostgreSQL book will help you to start using PostgreSQL from absolute scratch, helping you to quickly understand the internal workings of the database. With a structured approach and practical examples, go on a journey that covers the basics, from SQL statements and how to run server-side programs, to configuring, managing, securing, and optimizing database performance. This new edition will not only help you get to grips with all the recent changes within the PostgreSQL ecosystem but will also dig deeper into concepts like partitioning and replication with a fresh set of examples. The book is also equipped with Docker images for each chapter which makes the learning experience faster and easier. Starting with the absolute basics of databases, the book sails through to advanced concepts like window functions, logging, auditing, extending the database, configuration, partitioning, and replication. It will also help you seamlessly migrate your existing database system to PostgreSQL and contains a dedicated chapter on disaster recovery. Each chapter ends with practice questions to test your learning at regular intervals. By the end of this book, you will be able to install, configure, manage, and develop applications against a PostgreSQL database.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
20
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21
Index

Backup and Restore

It doesn’t matter how solid your hardware and software is – sooner or later, you will need to go back in time to recover accidentally deleted or damaged data. That is the purpose of a backup – to provide a safe copy that you can keep for a specific amount of time that allows you to recover from data loss. Being an enterprise-level database cluster, PostgreSQL provides a set of specific tools that allow a database administrator to take care of backups and restorations, and this chapter will show you all the main tools that you can exploit to be sure your data will survive any accidental abuse.

Backup and restore isn’t a very complex topic, but it’s fundamental in any production system and requires careful planning. In fact, with a backup copy, you are holding another exact copy of your database just in case something nasty happens; this extra copy will consume resources, most notably storage space. Deciding how many extra copies...