Re: [Duplicity-talk] Does Duplicity play nice with SQL databases?

[edgar . soldin]

hey Chaskary,

On 09.02.2023 01:25, chaskary--- via Duplicity-talk wrote:
> My understanding is SQL database programs like PostGres do maintenance on the 
> database file that would make duplicity's differential backup scheme not happy. 
> I can't find trustworthy information for or against this idea of mine on the 
> internet.

not sure what you mean here

1. backup snapshots/exports, not data files of running db instances

imagine databases like journaled file systems. the written state at any given 
time may be inconsistent, but they protect themselves by using transactions, so 
that incomplete transactions may be rolled back. to avoid backing up the 
inconsistent state you usually either stop the db or backup db exports.

2. db data files, like tables

surely they are not only appended, so using rsync's rolling block algorithm 
might be not (as) effective in case. never researched that area myself. at a 
quick glance i found
https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/91287/is-possible-to-backup-database-online-using-rsync
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1ehhqj/syncing_oracle_database_files_with_rsync/
with general regard to backup live dbs.
still i would suggest to backup (sql) exports, rather then raw db data files.

good luck.. ede/duply.net