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NetVault Plug-in for PostgreSQL 11.1 - User Guide

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.

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TIP: To use an existing set, click Create Backup Job, and select the set from the Selections list.
1
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.
2
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.
3
Next to the Selections list, click Create New.
4
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.
5
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.
6
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.

Setting backup options

The next step involves creating the Backup Options Set or selecting an existing one.

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TIP: To use an existing set, in the Plugin Options list, select the set that you want to use.
1
Next to the Plugin Options list, click Create New.
2
In the Backup Type section, select the applicable option:
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Full Database Cluster
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Individual Database/Table
For more information, see Available backup types.
3
In the Backup Format section, select the applicable option:
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Plain-Text SQL Script File
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TAR Archive File (Uncompressed)
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Custom Archive File (Compressed)
For more information, see Supported backup formats.
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IMPORTANT: NetVault Backup limitation on Windows: NetVault Backup resets the selection in Backup Format to the default (Plain Text SQL Script) if you change the Backup Type after selecting the file format. To avoid this issue, select the applicable Backup Format explicitly after selecting the Backup Type.

A similar problem also occurs when you save a Backup Options set. NetVault Backup resets the Backup Format to the default after you click OK. However, the saved Backup Options set contains your actual selection. Similarly, when you try to load a Backup Options set, the Plain Text SQL Script format is displayed as selected, which is incorrect. Internally, the plug-in uses the actual selected Backup Format.
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If you selected a Backup Format of Plain-Text SQL Script File, select the applicable Backup Options:
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Include Data Only (No Schema Definitions): To back up only the data without the schema, select this option. Data-only restores can only be performed for backups performed with this option selected.
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IMPORTANT: Template Databases are not included if you select this option.
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Disable Triggers: This option is only relevant when creating a data-only dump. Select this option if there are referential integrity checks or other triggers on the tables. This option temporarily disables triggers on the target tables during restore. After a successful restore, the triggers are enabled.
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Include BLOBs: To back up binary large objects (BLOBs), select this option. When this option is selected, all BLOBs within the selected database are backed up regardless of whether the associated table is included.
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Include Object Identifiers: This option dumps object identifiers (OIDs) as part of the data for every table. Use this option if the OID columns are referenced, for example, in a foreign key constraint. Otherwise, do not select this option.
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Include Drop Object Commands: To drop and re-create objects during the restore process, select this option.
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Exclude Access Privileges: To prevent dumping of access privileges, grant and revoke commands, select this option.
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Disable $ Quoting for Function Bodies: To disable the use of dollar quoting for function bodies and force them to be quoted using SQL-standard string syntax, select this option.
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Dump Data as Copy Data: To dump data using COPY commands instead of INSERT commands during a restore, select this option. Dumping data as INSERT commands generates a separate command for each row of data. This method is safer because any errors that occur result only in the loss of a row of data instead of losing the whole table. Dumping data as COPY commands might result in the loss of the whole table if an error occurs in one of the rows of data.
5
If you selected a Backup Format of TAR Archive File, select the applicable Backup Options:
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Include BLOBs: To back up BLOBs, select this option. When this option is selected, all BLOBs within the selected database are backed up regardless of whether the associated table is included.
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Disable $ Quoting for Function Bodies: To disable the use of dollar quoting for function bodies and force them to be quoted using SQL-standard string syntax, select this option.
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Dump Data as Copy Data: To dump data using COPY commands instead of INSERT commands during a restore, select this option. Dumping data as INSERT commands generates a separate command for each row of data. This method is safer because any errors that occur result only in the loss of a row of data instead of losing the whole table. Dumping data as COPY commands might result in the loss of the whole table if an error occurs in one of the rows of data.
6
If you selected a Backup Format of Custom Archive File, select the applicable Backup Options:
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Include BLOBs: To back up BLOBs, select this option. When this option is selected, all BLOBs within the selected database are backed up regardless of whether the associated table is included.
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Disable $ Quoting for Function Bodies: To disable the use of dollar quoting for function bodies and force them to be quoted using SQL-standard string syntax, select this option.
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Compression Level: Set the compression level between 0 and 9 to use for the custom archive format.
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If you want to override the default action for an error condition, select the applicable options:
A default action for all backup jobs can be set as outlined in Setting default actions for error conditions (optional).
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For a Full Database Cluster backup, the action can be set for the following scenario: Failed to Backup Configuration Files. This issue occurs when a configuration file is not found or cannot be backed up for any other reason. The “pg_hba.conf” file is used for user authentication; if this file is missing during job execution, the backup fails because of login failure, regardless of the action set for the Failed to Backup Configuration Files error condition.
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For an Individual Database/Table backup, the action can be set for the following additional scenarios:
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Manually Selected Database Unavailable: This issue occurs when an individual database that was manually selected for inclusion in the backup is unavailable for backup for any reason.
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Manually Selected Table Unavailable: This issue occurs when an individual table that was manually selected for inclusion in the backup is unavailable for backup for any reason.
The plug-in can be configured to take one of following possible courses of action when any of the preceding error conditions occur during the job execution:
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Complete with Warnings — Saveset Retained: The job returns a status of “Backup Completed with warnings” and a backup saveset is created that includes the items that were successfully backed up.
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Complete without Warnings — Saveset Retained: The job completes and returns a status of “Backup Completed.” The errors are logged in the NetVault Backup binary logs and ignored on the Job Status page. A backup saveset is created that includes the items that were backed up.
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Fail — Saveset Retained: The job returns a status of “Backup Failed.” However, a backup saveset is generated that includes the items that were successfully backed up.
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Fail — No Saveset Retained: The job returns a status of “Backup Failed” and no saveset of backed-up objects is kept. That is, even if some of the objects were successfully backed up, the saveset is discarded.
8
Click Save.
9
In the Create New Set dialog box, specify a name for the set, 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.

Finalizing and submitting the job

1
Use the Schedule, Target Storage, and Advanced Options lists to configure any additional required options.
2
Click Save or Save & Submit, whichever is applicable.
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TIP: To run a job that you have already created and saved, select Manage Job Definitions in the Navigation pane, select the applicable job, and click Run Now.
You can monitor progress on the Job Status page and view the logs on the View Logs page. For more information, see the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
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IMPORTANT: If you enabled the Dump Data as Copy Data option, Quest recommends that you also set up additional regular backup jobs, such as weekly or every other week, that do not use the Dump Data as Copy option.
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