Re: Backup question

[Charley Tiggs <..hidden..>]

david wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-12-08 at 03:25 -0600, Charley Tiggs wrote:
> > david wrote:
> > > On Thu, 2006-12-07 at 17:04 -0800, Chris Travers wrote:
> > > > It does a pg_dump and compresses it.
> > > Is there a significant difference between pg_dump and pg_dumpall?
> > Yes, there is.  Pg_dumpall will dump all databases in your installation. 
> >   If you have multiple databases installed then all of them will be 
> > dumped along with all of your custom functions, views, etc.
> >
> > pg_dump simply dumps a specific db with all of it's attendant 
> > customizations.
> <quote>
> pg_dumpall also dumps global objects that are common to all databases.
> (pg_dump does not save these objects.) This currently includes
> information about database users and groups, and access permissions that
> apply to databases as a whole.
> </quote>
>
> This would seem to imply that pg_dumpall is a better idea, but I'm
> disturbingly ignorant of postgres. Am I right? For the record, I'm only
> using postgres for SL at the moment.
>
>
> Thanks, 
> David.

If that's all you're installation of Postgres for and that's all you'll 
ever use it for, pg_dumpall is fine.  But I don't think it's a good idea 
to make that assumption when creating the backup script.  The backup 
script should only assume that you're working with the defined databases 
as created within admin.pl.  This avoids touching other databases that 
may be created for other applications.

Charley

> > pg_dump:
> > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/app-pgdump.html
> >
> > pg_dumpall: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/app-pg-dumpall.html
> >
> > Hope that helps...
> >
> > Charley