NetVault Plug-in for PostgreSQL 12.3

Full Database Cluster backups only: If update characteristics are similar across multiple databases, Full Database Cluster backups scheduled every night ensures data protection up to the previous day.

A Full Database Cluster backup consumes large amounts of storage space. However, restores are easier and quicker as only a single job is required to restore the entire cluster. Using the Custom Archive backup format can reduce the backup size.

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Full Database Cluster backups and Individual Database/Table backups: If some databases are updated more frequently than others, regular Individual Database/Table backup coupled with periodic Full Database Cluster backup is an ideal strategy. For example, Full Database Cluster backups can be performed every Sunday night at 11:00 p.m., while Individual Database backups for the databases that are updated frequently can be performed Monday through Saturday at 11:00 p.m. This ensures data protection up to the previous day. You can increase backup frequency to reduce data loss, and use the Custom Archive format with a higher compression level for large databases to reduce the backup size.

Databases that are updated less frequently can be backed up two or three times a week or on demand after an update is made.

During restores, the databases that have not been updated since the last backup can be restored from the Full Database Cluster, while the others can be restored from their last individual backup. Even though the backups are quicker, the restores can take longer due to the additional intervention that is required to run multiple restore jobs.

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Global Objects Only backup: Because the individual database backups exclude the global objects, you can use Global Objects Only after updates are made to the database users, groups, and access permissions. This option ensures that these recent backups can be used instead of Full Database Cluster backups.

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Individual Database/Table backups and Global Objects Only backups: You could use a backup strategy of Individual Database/Table backups plus Global Objects Only backup where you back up the individual databases according to their update frequency. You might back up databases that updated less frequently on a weekly basis and back up the remaining databases daily. Also, you might run Global Objects Only backups weekly or on demand after an update to the database groups, users, and access permissions is made.

Performing a backup

A backup using Plug‑in for PostgreSQL includes the steps outlined in the following topics.

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Selecting data for a backup

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Setting backup options

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Finalizing and submitting the job

Selecting data for a backup

You must use sets — Backup Selection Set, Backup Options Set, Schedule Set, Target Set, and Advanced Options Set — to create a backup job. For more information, see the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.


	TIP: To use an existing set, click Create Backup Job, and select the set from the Selections list.

In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job.

You can also start the wizard from the Guided Configuration link. In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration. On the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Create backup jobs.

In Job Name, specify a name for the job.

Assign a descriptive name that lets you easily identify the job when monitoring its progress or restoring data. The job name can contain alphanumeric and nonalphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. On Linux, the name can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.

Next to the Selections list, click Create New.

In the list of plug-ins, open Plug‑in for PostgreSQL.

The plug-in attempts to connect to the database server with the name and password specified in the Configure dialog box. After successful authentication, the added database clusters are displayed.

Open the target database-cluster node, and you see two nodes: Configuration Files and All Databases.

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To make Full Database Cluster backups, do one of the following:

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To back up all the databases, including Template Databases, and the configuration files contained in the cluster, select the database-cluster node.

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To back up only the databases, including Template Databases, select the All Databases node, or clear the Configuration Files node after selecting the database-cluster node.

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To select individual databases or tables, do the following:

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Open the All Databases node, and select the required databases. To include Template Databases in the backup, select the node, for example, template1.

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For individual table selection, open the applicable database node. Select the database node, which automatically includes all the tables, and then clear the check boxes for the tables that you want to exclude from the backup.

The Template Database nodes cannot be opened further.

Click Save, enter a name in the Create New Set dialog box, and click Save.

The name can contain alphanumeric and nonalphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. On Linux, the name can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.