This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
pgBackRest writes a stanza, a repo path, and a retention of two full backups. The backup and the check are comments. Barman writes a server section, a connection line, a backup directory, and a recovery window of seven days. Review the paths before you install either one.
Replace sample paths. Do not run the backup during the reading. Do not point the repo at a directory you have not named. No password belongs in the note.
192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. A sample password is replaced. It is not a password you keep.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the database named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the database, then decide.
Rollback is the backup, the file, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Replace the paths.
- Read the retention.
- Leave the backup lines as comments.
- Do not install during the reading.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the statement
PostgreSQL Backups with pgBackRest and Barman goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A backup run during the reading.
- A sample path left in the file.
- A password in the connection line you saved.
Decisions to write down
One decision for PostgreSQL Backups with pgBackRest and Barman: The paths were replaced. Retention was read. Nothing was run. And the host is yours.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The stanza is named. The paths are yours. Retention was read. Nothing was run. And the host is yours. If one of those fails, stop.
Before you leave the database
PostgreSQL Backups with pgBackRest and Barman ends when the database in the prompt is the database in the ticket. If it is not, you are on the wrong database. Stop.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the database. You delete a line that names a host, a database, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. A sample password in a draft is replaced. It is not a password you keep.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the database name and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a database you do not administer. You do not disable authentication, a firewall, or TLS to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
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