In this article, we'll explain about automating PostgreSQL backups on Linux a guide.
To take an automatic backup of a PostgreSQL database on Linux, we can create a shell script that utilizes the pg_dump utility provided by PostgreSQL. Here's a simple example of how we can do this:
1. Create a shell script
First, we need to create a shell script and name the file backup_postgres.sh.
nano backup_postgres.sh
Add following contents in the file:
#!/bin/bash
# Define PostgreSQL database credentials
DB_USER="your_username"
DB_NAME="your_database_name"
# Define backup directory and filename
BACKUP_DIR="/path/to/backup/directory"
DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/db_backup_$DATE.sql"
# Execute pg_dump to backup the database
pg_dump -U "$DB_USER" "$DB_NAME" > "$BACKUP_FILE"
Note:
- Replace DB_USER and DB_NAME with your database name and user.
- Replace BACKUP_DIR path.
2. Make the script executable
We need to make the script executable so that the crontab will run the file.
chmod +x backup_postgres.sh
3. Set up a cron job
Set up a cron job to execute the script at desired intervals. For example, to run the backup script daily, open your crontab file:
crontab -e
And add the following line to run the script at midnight every day:
0 0 * * * /path/to/backup_postgres.sh
Note: Replace /path/to/ to your file path
This will create a backup of your PostgreSQL database daily at midnight and store it in the specified backup directory with a timestamped filename.
That's it. We have successfully seen automating PostgreSQL backups on Linux a guide.
