Databases Beginner

What is Database Backup?

The process of creating copies of database data to protect against data loss from failures, corruption, or human error.

Backup strategies include logical backups (pg_dump — SQL statements to recreate data), physical backups (file-level copies of data directory), and continuous archiving (WAL shipping for point-in-time recovery).

The 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies of data, on 2 different media types, with 1 offsite copy. Test restores regularly — an untested backup is not a backup. Automate backups with cron and monitor for failures. Cloud providers offer managed backup solutions.

Related Terms

A PostgreSQL maintenance operation that reclaims storage from dead tuples and updates statistics for the query planner.

Write-Ahead Log (WAL)

A technique where changes are first written to a log before being applied to the database, ensuring crash recovery and data integrity.

A database operation that inserts a new row if it does not exist, or updates the existing row if it does.

A centralized repository optimized for analytical queries that integrates data from multiple operational sources.

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

A data pipeline process that extracts data from sources, transforms it into a suitable format, and loads it into a destination system.

Connection String

A formatted string containing all parameters needed to establish a connection to a database server.

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