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Are backups / live snapshots atomic?

Posted on June 14, 2017

I would like to know if DO live snapshots and backups are atomic. I mean, do they create a point in time snapshot of the file system?

I’m asking this because if live snapshots are atomic, then I can safely backup Postgresql data with a simple live snapshot on the server (indeed Postgresql uses WAL for transactions).



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Hi @collimarco

The backups/snapshots are full server images of the point-in-time state, so not just file backup. Meaning when rolling back to that image, it will restore everything to that state - even running processes.

It’s generally not recommended to rely on full image backups as data-backup, but if you trust the PostgreSQL way of storing data in flat files, then yes, you can use it as backup for that.

I would highly recommend that you have other backup solutions as well - in other locations, so you’re safe in case of data center disaster.

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