# Backup Restore > PostgreSQL backup and restore with pgBackRest — full/incremental/WAL, PITR, K8s CronJob scheduling, and restore verification. - Skill: `sawrus/backup-restore` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sawrus/backup-restore` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sawrus/backup-restore/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: sawrus (https://skillmd.com/u/sawrus) - Updated: 2026-09-10 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sawrus/backup-restore --- # Skill: Backup & Restore > **Expertise:** pgBackRest full/WAL/incremental backup, PITR, S3/MinIO storage, CronJob scheduling, CloudNativePG backup CRDs. ## When to load When configuring backup infrastructure, running a restore, verifying backup integrity, or recovering from data loss. ## pgBackRest Configuration ```ini # /etc/pgbackrest/pgbackrest.conf [global] repo1-type=s3 repo1-path=/postgres-backups repo1-s3-bucket=mycompany-db-backups repo1-s3-endpoint=s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com repo1-s3-region=eu-west-1 repo1-s3-key= repo1-s3-key-secret= repo1-cipher-type=aes-256-cbc repo1-cipher-pass= # rotate annually repo1-retention-full=4 # keep 4 full backups repo1-retention-diff=14 # keep 14 differential backups [global:archive-push] compress-level=3 [production-db] pg1-path=/var/lib/postgresql/data pg1-host=postgres-primary pg1-host-user=postgres ``` ## PostgreSQL: Enable WAL Archiving ```sql -- postgresql.conf (or via ALTER SYSTEM) ALTER SYSTEM SET wal_level = replica; ALTER SYSTEM SET archive_mode = on; ALTER SYSTEM SET archive_command = 'pgbackrest --stanza=production-db archive-push %p'; ALTER SYSTEM SET archive_timeout = '300'; -- archive segment at least every 5 min SELECT pg_reload_conf(); ``` ## Backup Commands ```bash # Initialize stanza (run once) pgbackrest --stanza=production-db stanza-create # Full backup (schedule: weekly) pgbackrest --stanza=production-db --type=full backup # Differential backup (changes since last full — schedule: daily) pgbackrest --stanza=production-db --type=diff backup # Incremental backup (changes since last backup — schedule: hourly) pgbackrest --stanza=production-db --type=incr backup # Check backup catalog pgbackrest --stanza=production-db info # Verify backup integrity (reads and checksums) pgbackrest --stanza=production-db --set= check ``` ## PITR Restore (Point-in-Time Recovery) ```bash # PITR to specific timestamp (e.g., 1 minute before accidental DELETE) # Step 1: Stop PostgreSQL systemctl stop postgresql # Step 2: Restore pgbackrest --stanza=production-db \ --delta \ --target="2024-11-15 03:40:00+00" \ --target-action=promote \ --target-timeline=current \ restore # Step 3: Start PostgreSQL in recovery mode systemctl start postgresql # Step 4: Monitor recovery progress tail -f /var/log/postgresql/postgresql.log # Watch for: "recovery stopping before commit of transaction" # Then: "database system is ready to accept connections" # Step 5: Verify data integrity psql -c "SELECT count(*) FROM orders WHERE created_at > '2024-11-15 03:39:00';" ``` ## K8s CronJob: Automated Backups ```yaml apiVersion: batch/v1 kind: CronJob metadata: name: postgres-backup-daily namespace: database spec: schedule: "0 2 * * *" # 02:00 UTC daily concurrencyPolicy: Forbid successfulJobsHistoryLimit: 3 failedJobsHistoryLimit: 3 jobTemplate: spec: template: spec: serviceAccountName: postgres-backup restartPolicy: OnFailure containers: - name: pgbackrest image: pgbackrest/pgbackrest:2.50 command: - /bin/sh - -c - | pgbackrest --stanza=production-db --type=diff backup pgbackrest --stanza=production-db check envFrom: - secretRef: name: pgbackrest-s3-credentials volumeMounts: - name: pgbackrest-config mountPath: /etc/pgbackrest volumes: - name: pgbackrest-config configMap: name: pgbackrest-config ``` ## CloudNativePG Backup (K8s Operator) ```yaml # Cluster with scheduled backup apiVersion: postgresql.cnpg.io/v1 kind: Cluster metadata: name: postgres-cluster spec: backup: barmanObjectStore: destinationPath: s3://mycompany-db-backups/production s3Credentials: accessKeyId: name: s3-creds key: ACCESS_KEY_ID secretAccessKey: name: s3-creds key: SECRET_ACCESS_KEY wal: compression: gzip data: compression: gzip retentionPolicy: "30d" --- # Scheduled backup CRD apiVersion: postgresql.cnpg.io/v1 kind: ScheduledBackup metadata: name: postgres-daily spec: schedule: "0 2 * * *" backupOwnerReference: self cluster: name: postgres-cluster ``` ## Restore Verification Script (weekly) ```bash #!/bin/bash # verify-backup.sh — restore to isolated pod and check row counts STANZA="production-db" RESTORE_HOST="postgres-restore-test" TABLES=("orders" "payments" "users") echo "=== pgBackRest Backup Verification $(date) ===" # 1. Check last backup age LAST_BACKUP=$(pgbackrest --stanza=$STANZA info --output=json | \ jq -r '.[] | .backup[-1].timestamp.stop') echo "Last backup: $LAST_BACKUP" AGE_HOURS=$(( ($(date +%s) - $(date -d "$LAST_BACKUP" +%s)) / 3600 )) if [ $AGE_HOURS -gt 26 ]; then echo "ERROR: Last backup is ${AGE_HOURS}h old — exceeds 26h threshold" exit 1 fi # 2. Restore to test instance pgbackrest --stanza=$STANZA --delta --pg1-host=$RESTORE_HOST restore # 3. Start test PostgreSQL pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/restore -l /tmp/restore.log start # 4. Verify row counts match production for table in "${TABLES[@]}"; do PROD_COUNT=$(psql -h postgres-primary -c "SELECT count(*) FROM $table;" -t | tr -d ' ') REST_COUNT=$(psql -h $RESTORE_HOST -c "SELECT count(*) FROM $table;" -t | tr -d ' ') if [ "$PROD_COUNT" != "$REST_COUNT" ]; then echo "MISMATCH in $table: prod=$PROD_COUNT restore=$REST_COUNT" FAILED=1 else echo "OK: $table = $PROD_COUNT rows" fi done pg_ctl -D /var/lib/postgresql/restore stop [ -z "$FAILED" ] && echo "BACKUP VERIFICATION PASSED" || exit 1 ```