PostgreSQL Backup, Replication & High Availability
Designing Resilient, Fault-Tolerant, and Disaster-Ready PostgreSQL Systems
What's Included:
Key Highlights
- Comprehensive backup strategies (logical and physical)
- WAL archiving and Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)
- Streaming replication configuration
- Synchronous vs asynchronous trade-off analysis
- Failover and switchover playbooks
- Multi-node high availability architecture
- Replication monitoring and troubleshooting queries
- Disaster recovery runbook template
- Security considerations for backup and replication
Overview
Design resilient PostgreSQL systems with reliable backups, streaming replication, WAL archiving, PITR, failover strategies, and high-availability architecture patterns.
The Problem
PostgreSQL deployments often start small and grow quickly — but resilience planning rarely keeps pace. Many teams configure backups once and assume replication will “just work,” only to discover weaknesses during incidents.
Common risks include:
- Unverified or incomplete backups
- WAL misconfiguration
- Replication lag or silent failure
- Unclear failover procedures
- Security gaps in backup storage
- No documented disaster recovery runbook
When downtime occurs, the difference between chaos and controlled recovery lies in preparation.
The Solution
PostgreSQL Backup, Replication & High Availability provides a structured roadmap for building durable PostgreSQL systems.
You will gain:
- Clear backup strategies (logical and physical)
- Deep understanding of WAL and PITR
- Production-ready replication configurations
- High availability design patterns
- Failover and switchover procedures
- Monitoring and troubleshooting frameworks
- Security and capacity planning guidance
Instead of reacting to failures, you will design systems that expect them — and survive them gracefully.
About This Book
PostgreSQL Backup, Replication & High Availability is a production-focused guide to designing resilient, fault-tolerant, and disaster-ready PostgreSQL systems.
In modern infrastructure, data durability is non-negotiable. Hardware fails. Networks partition. Human errors happen. A PostgreSQL deployment that is not designed for resilience is simply waiting for an outage.
This book provides the practical knowledge required to protect PostgreSQL systems against data loss and downtime. It moves beyond theory and into implementation — from backups and WAL archiving to replication topologies and high-availability architecture.
Master PostgreSQL Backups
You will learn how to design reliable backup strategies using:
- Logical backups with pg_dump
- Physical backups and base backups
- WAL archiving strategies
- Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR)
- Backup validation and restoration testing
Streaming Replication and Failover
Replication is central to high availability. The book explains:
- Streaming replication setup and configuration
- Synchronous vs asynchronous replication trade-offs
- Failover and switchover workflows
- Read scaling with replicas
- Monitoring and troubleshooting replication lag
High Availability Architecture
Beyond single-node replication, you’ll explore:
- Multi-node HA designs
- Load balancing strategies
- Backup automation and scheduling
- Security for replication and backup data
- Capacity planning for growth
The final chapters elevate your perspective from operational DBA tasks to architectural resilience thinking — ensuring your PostgreSQL systems are predictable, recoverable, and production-ready.
This book turns PostgreSQL resilience from an afterthought into a disciplined engineering practice.
Who Is This Book For?
- PostgreSQL database administrators managing production systems
- DevOps engineers responsible for database reliability
- Site Reliability Engineers (SREs)
- Systems architects designing HA PostgreSQL clusters
- Infrastructure teams implementing disaster recovery strategies
Who Is This Book NOT For?
- Absolute beginners with no PostgreSQL experience
- Readers seeking introductory SQL tutorials
- Developers focused only on ORM usage
- Teams using non-relational databases exclusively
Table of Contents
- Why Backups and HA Matter
- PostgreSQL Architecture for HA
- Logical Backups
- Physical Backups
- WAL Archiving Deep Dive
- Performing Point-in-Time Recovery
- Streaming Replication Setup
- Synchronous vs Asynchronous Replication
- Failover and Switchover Strategies
- Load Balancing and Read Scaling
- Replication Monitoring and Troubleshooting
- Multi-Node HA Architectures
- Backup Automation and Scheduling
- Security in Backup and Replication
- Capacity Planning and Scalability
- From DBA to Resilience Architect
- Appendix: Backup & HA Checklist
- Appendix: WAL Configuration Reference
- Appendix: Replication Monitoring Queries
- Appendix: Disaster Recovery Runbook Template
- Appendix: HA Architecture Design Worksheet
Requirements
- Working knowledge of PostgreSQL administration
- Basic understanding of relational database concepts
- Experience managing PostgreSQL instances in development or production
- Access to PostgreSQL test environments for hands-on practice (recommended)
