Ubuntu Manpage: barman - Backup and Recovery Manager for PostgreSQL

NAME

       barman - Backup and Recovery Manager for PostgreSQL

DESCRIPTION

       Barman  is  an  administration tool for disaster recovery of PostgreSQL servers written in
       Python and maintained by EnterpriseDB.  Barman can  perform  remote  backups  of  multiple
       servers in business critical environments and helps DBAs during the recovery phase.

CONFIGURATION FILE LOCATIONS

       The system-level Barman configuration file is located at

              /etc/barman.conf

       or

              /etc/barman/barman.conf

       and is overridden on a per-user level by

              $HOME/.barman.conf

CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX

       The  Barman  configuration  file  is  a plain INI file.  There is a general section called
       [barman] and a section [servername] for each server you want  to  backup.   Rows  starting
       with ; are comments.

CONFIGURATION FILE DIRECTORY

       Barman   supports   the   inclusion   of   multiple   configuration   files,  through  the
       configuration_files_directory  option.   Included   files   must   contain   only   server
       specifications,  not global configurations.  If the value of configuration_files_directory
       is a directory, Barman reads all files with .conf extension that  exist  in  that  folder.
       For  example,  if  you  set  it  to /etc/barman.d, you can specify your PostgreSQL servers
       placing each section in a separate .conf file inside the /etc/barman.d folder.

OPTIONS

active When set to true (default), the server is in full operational state. When set to
false, the server can be used for diagnostics, but any operational command such as
backup execution or WAL archiving is temporarily disabled. When adding a new
server to Barman, we suggest setting active=false at first, making sure that barman
check shows no problems, and only then activating the server. This will avoid
spamming the Barman logs with errors during the initial setup.

archiver
This option allows you to activate log file shipping through PostgreSQL's
archive_command for a server. If set to true (default), Barman expects that
continuous archiving for a server is in place and will activate checks as well as
management (including compression) of WAL files that Postgres deposits in the
incoming directory. Setting it to false, will disable standard continuous
archiving for a server. Global/Server.

archiver_batch_size
This option allows you to activate batch processing of WAL files for the archiver
process, by setting it to a value > 0. Otherwise, the traditional unlimited
processing of the WAL queue is enabled. When batch processing is activated, the
archive-wal process would limit itself to maximum archiver_batch_size WAL segments
per single run. Integer. Global/Server.

backup_compression
The compression to be used during the backup process. Only supported when
backup_method = postgres. Can either be unset or gzip,lz4 or zstd. If unset then
no compression will be used during the backup. Use of this option requires that
the CLI application for the specified compression algorithm is available on the
Barman server (at backup time) and the PostgreSQL server (at recovery time). Note
that the lz4 and zstd algorithms require PostgreSQL 15 (beta) or later.
Global/Server.

backup_compression_format
The format pg_basebackup should use when writing compressed backups to disk. Can
be set to either plain or tar. If unset then a default of tar is assumed. The
value plain can only be used if the server is running PostgreSQL 15 or later and if
backup_compression_location is server. Only supported when
backup_method = postgres. Global/Server.

backup_compression_level
An integer value representing the compression level to use when compressing
backups. Allowed values depend on the compression algorithm specified by
backup_compression. Only supported when backup_method = postgres. Global/Server.

backup_compression_location
The location (either client or server) where compression should be performed during
the backup. The value server is only allowed if the server is running PostgreSQL
15 or later. Global/Server.

backup_compression_workers
The number of compression threads to be used during the backup process. Only
supported when backup_compression = zstd is set. Default value is 0. In this case
default compression behavior will be used.

backup_directory
Directory where backup data for a server will be placed. Server.

backup_method
Configure the method barman used for backup execution. If set to rsync (default),
barman will execute backup using the rsync command over SSH (requires ssh_command).
If set to postgres barman will use the pg_basebackup command to execute the backup.
If set to local-rsync, barman will assume to be running on the same server as the
PostgreSQL instance and with the same user, then execute rsync for the file system
copy. If set to snapshot, barman will use the API for the cloud provider defined
in the snapshot_provider option to create snapshots of disks specified in the
snapshot_disks option and save only the backup label and metadata to its own
storage. Global/Server.

backup_options
This option allows you to control the way Barman interacts with PostgreSQL for
backups. It is a comma-separated list of values that accepts the following
options:

• concurrent_backup (default): barman backup executes backup operations using
concurrent backup which is the recommended backup approach for PostgreSQL
versions >= 9.6 and uses the PostgreSQL API. concurrent_backup can also be used
to perform a backup from a standby server.

• exclusive_backup (PostgreSQL versions older than 15 only): barman backup executes
backup operations using the deprecated exclusive backup approach (technically
through pg_start_backup and pg_stop_backup)

• external_configuration: if present, any warning regarding external configuration
files is suppressed during the execution of a backup.

Note that exclusive_backup and concurrent_backup are mutually exclusive.
Global/Server.

bandwidth_limit
This option allows you to specify a maximum transfer rate in kilobytes per second.
A value of zero specifies no limit (default). Global/Server.

barman_home
Main data directory for Barman. Global.

barman_lock_directory
Directory for locks. Default: %(barman_home)s. Global.

basebackup_retry_sleep
Number of seconds of wait after a failed copy, before retrying Used during both
backup and recovery operations. Positive integer, default 30. Global/Server.

basebackup_retry_times
Number of retries of base backup copy, after an error. Used during both backup and
recovery operations. Positive integer, default 0. Global/Server.

basebackups_directory
Directory where base backups will be placed. Server.

check_timeout
Maximum execution time, in seconds per server, for a barman check command. Set to
0 to disable the timeout. Positive integer, default 30. Global/Server.

compression
Standard compression algorithm applied to WAL files. Possible values are: gzip
(requires gzip to be installed on the system), bzip2 (requires bzip2), pigz
(requires pigz), pygzip (Python's internal gzip compressor) and pybzip2 (Python's
internal bzip2 compressor). Global/Server.

conninfo
Connection string used by Barman to connect to the Postgres server. This is a
libpq connection string, consult the PostgreSQL manual
(https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-
CONNSTRING) for more information. Commonly used keys are: host, hostaddr, port,
dbname, user, password. Server.

create_slot
When set to auto and slot_name is defined, Barman automatically attempts to create
the replication slot if not present. When set to manual (default), the replication
slot needs to be manually created. Global/Server.

custom_compression_filter
Customised compression algorithm applied to WAL files. Global/Server.

custom_compression_magic
Customised compression magic which is checked in the beginning of a WAL file to
select the custom algorithm. If you are using a custom compression filter then
setting this will prevent barman from applying the custom compression to WALs which
have been pre-compressed with that compression. If you do not configure this then
custom compression will still be applied but any pre-compressed WAL files will be
compressed again during WAL archive. Global/Server.

custom_decompression_filter
Customised decompression algorithm applied to compressed WAL files; this must match
the compression algorithm. Global/Server.

description
A human readable description of a server. Server.

errors_directory
Directory that contains WAL files that contain an error; usually this is related to
a conflict with an existing WAL file (e.g. a WAL file that has been archived after
a streamed one).

forward_config_path
Parameter which determines whether a passive node should forward its configuration
file path to its primary node during cron or sync-info commands. Set to true if
you are invoking barman with the -c/--config option and your configuration is in
the same place on both the passive and primary barman servers. Defaults to false.

immediate_checkpoint
This option allows you to control the way PostgreSQL handles checkpoint at the
start of the backup. If set to false (default), the I/O workload for the
checkpoint will be limited, according to the checkpoint_completion_target setting
on the PostgreSQL server. If set to true, an immediate checkpoint will be
requested, meaning that PostgreSQL will complete the checkpoint as soon as
possible. Global/Server.

incoming_wals_directory
Directory where incoming WAL files are archived into. Requires archiver to be
enabled. Server.

last_backup_maximum_age
This option identifies a time frame that must contain the latest backup. If the
latest backup is older than the time frame, barman check command will report an
error to the user. If empty (default), latest backup is always considered valid.
Syntax for this option is: "i (DAYS | WEEKS | MONTHS)" where i is an integer
greater than zero, representing the number of days | weeks | months of the time
frame. Global/Server.

last_backup_minimum_size
This option identifies lower limit to the acceptable size of the latest successful
backup. If the latest backup is smaller than the specified size, barman check
command will report an error to the user. If empty (default), latest backup is
always considered valid. Syntax for this option is: "i (k|Ki|M|Mi|G|Gi|T|Ti)"
where i is an integer greater than zero, with an optional SI or IEC suffix.
k=kilo=1000, Ki=Kibi=1024 and so forth. Note that the suffix is case-sensitive.
Global/Server.

last_wal_maximum_age
This option identifies a time frame that must contain the latest WAL file archived.
If the latest WAL file is older than the time frame, barman check command will
report an error to the user. If empty (default), the age of the WAL files is not
checked. Syntax is the same as last_backup_maximum_age (above). Global/Server.
log_file
Location of Barman's log file. Global.

log_level
Level of logging (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL). Global.

max_incoming_wals_queue
Maximum number of WAL files in the incoming queue (in both streaming and archiving
pools) that are allowed before barman check returns an error (that does not block
backups). Global/Server. Default: None (disabled).

minimum_redundancy
Minimum number of backups to be retained. Default 0. Global/Server.

network_compression
This option allows you to enable data compression for network transfers. If set to
false (default), no compression is used. If set to true, compression is enabled,
reducing network usage. Global/Server.

parallel_jobs
This option controls how many parallel workers will copy files during a backup or
recovery command. Default 1. Global/Server. For backup purposes, it works only
when backup_method is rsync.

path_prefix
One or more absolute paths, separated by colon, where Barman looks for executable
files. The paths specified in path_prefix are tried before the ones specified in
PATH environment variable. Global/server.

post_archive_retry_script
Hook script launched after a WAL file is archived by maintenance. Being this a
retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either
returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a
post archive scenario, ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE.
Global/Server.

post_archive_script
Hook script launched after a WAL file is archived by maintenance, after
'post_archive_retry_script'. Global/Server.

post_backup_retry_script
Hook script launched after a base backup. Being this a retry hook script, Barman
will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an
ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post backup scenario,
ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE. Global/Server.

post_backup_script
Hook script launched after a base backup, after 'post_backup_retry_script'.
Global/Server.

post_delete_retry_script
Hook script launched after the deletion of a backup. Being this a retry hook
script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a
SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post delete
scenario, ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE.
Global/Server.

post_delete_script
Hook script launched after the deletion of a backup, after
'post_delete_retry_script'. Global/Server.

post_recovery_retry_script
Hook script launched after a recovery. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will
retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an
ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post recovery scenario,
ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE. Global/Server.

post_recovery_script
Hook script launched after a recovery, after 'post_recovery_retry_script'.
Global/Server.

post_wal_delete_retry_script
Hook script launched after the deletion of a WAL file. Being this a retry hook
script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a
SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post delete
scenario, ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE.
Global/Server.

post_wal_delete_script
Hook script launched after the deletion of a WAL file, after
'post_wal_delete_retry_script'. Global/Server.

pre_archive_retry_script
Hook script launched before a WAL file is archived by maintenance, after
'pre_archive_script'. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the
execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE
(62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure
at a higher level and interrupt the WAL archiving operation. Global/Server.

pre_archive_script
Hook script launched before a WAL file is archived by maintenance. Global/Server.

pre_backup_retry_script
Hook script launched before a base backup, after 'pre_backup_script'. Being this a
retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either
returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code.
Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure at a higher level and interrupt the
backup operation. Global/Server.

pre_backup_script
Hook script launched before a base backup. Global/Server.

pre_delete_retry_script
Hook script launched before the deletion of a backup, after 'pre_delete_script'.
Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until
this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63)
code. Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure at a higher level and
interrupt the backup deletion. Global/Server.

pre_delete_script
Hook script launched before the deletion of a backup. Global/Server.

pre_recovery_retry_script
Hook script launched before a recovery, after 'pre_recovery_script'. Being this a
retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either
returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code.
Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure at a higher level and interrupt the
recover operation. Global/Server.

pre_recovery_script
Hook script launched before a recovery. Global/Server.

pre_wal_delete_retry_script
Hook script launched before the deletion of a WAL file, after
'pre_wal_delete_script'. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the
execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE
(62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure
at a higher level and interrupt the WAL file deletion. Global/Server.

pre_wal_delete_script
Hook script launched before the deletion of a WAL file. Global/Server.

primary_conninfo
The connection string used by Barman to connect to the primary Postgres server
during backup of a standby Postgres server. Barman will use this connection to
carry out any required WAL switches on the primary during the backup of the
standby. This allows backups to complete even when archive_mode = always is set on
the standby and write traffic to the primary is not sufficient to trigger a natural
WAL switch.

If primary_conninfo is set then it must be pointing to a primary Postgres instance
and conninfo must be pointing to a standby Postgres instance. Furthermore both
instances must share the same systemid. If these conditions are not met then
barman check will fail.

The primary_conninfo value must be a libpq connection string; consult the
PostgreSQL manual (https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-
connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING) for more information. Commonly used keys are: host,
hostaddr, port, dbname, user, password. Server.

primary_ssh_command
Parameter that identifies a Barman server as passive. In a passive node, the
source of a backup server is a Barman installation rather than a PostgreSQL server.
If primary_ssh_command is specified, Barman uses it to establish a connection with
the primary server. Empty by default, it can also be set globally.

recovery_options
Options for recovery operations. Currently only supports get-wal. get-wal
activates generation of a basic restore_command in the resulting recovery
configuration that uses the barman get-wal command to fetch WAL files directly from
Barman's archive of WALs. Comma separated list of values, default empty.
Global/Server.

recovery_staging_path
A path to a location on the recovery host (either the barman server or a remote
host if --remote-ssh-command is also used) where files for a compressed backup will
be staged before being uncompressed to the destination directory. Backups will be
staged in their own directory within the staging path according to the following
naming convention: "barman-staging-SERVER_NAME-BACKUP_ID". The staging directory
within the staging path will be removed at the end of the recovery process. This
option is required when recovering from compressed backups and has no effect
otherwise. Global/Server.

retention_policy
Policy for retention of periodic backups and archive logs. If left empty,
retention policies are not enforced. For redundancy based retention policy use
"REDUNDANCY i" (where i is an integer > 0 and defines the number of backups to
retain). For recovery window retention policy use "RECOVERY WINDOW OF i DAYS" or
"RECOVERY WINDOW OF i WEEKS" or "RECOVERY WINDOW OF i MONTHS" where i is a positive
integer representing, specifically, the number of days, weeks or months to retain
your backups. For more detailed information, refer to the official documentation.
Default value is empty. Global/Server.

retention_policy_mode
Currently only "auto" is implemented. Global/Server.

reuse_backup
This option controls incremental backup support. Global/Server. Possible values
are:

• off: disabled (default);

• copy: reuse the last available backup for a server and create a copy of the
unchanged files (reduce backup time);

• link: reuse the last available backup for a server and create a hard link of the
unchanged files (reduce backup time and space). Requires operating system and
file system support for hard links.

slot_name
Physical replication slot to be used by the receive-wal command when
streaming_archiver is set to on. Default: None (disabled). Global/Server.

snapshot_disks
A comma-separated list of disks which should be included in a backup taken using
cloud snapshots. Server. Required when the snapshot value is specified for
backup_method.

snapshot_gcp_project
The ID of the GCP project which owns the instance and storage volumes defined by
snapshot_instance and snapshot_disks. Global/Server. Required when the snapshot
value is specified for backup_method and snapshot_provider is set to gcp.

snapshot_instance
The name of the VM or compute instance where the storage volumes are attached.
Server. Required when the snapshot value is specified for backup_method.

snapshot_provider
The name of the cloud provider which should be used to create snapshots.
Global/Server. Required when the snapshot value is specified for backup_method.
Supported values: gcp.

snapshot_zone
The name of the availability zone where the compute instance and disks to be backed
up in a snapshot backup are located. Server. Required when the snapshot value is
specified for backup_method.

ssh_command
Command used by Barman to login to the Postgres server via ssh. Server.

streaming_archiver
This option allows you to use the PostgreSQL's streaming protocol to receive
transaction logs from a server. If set to on, Barman expects to find pg_receivewal
(known as pg_receivexlog prior to PostgreSQL 10) in the PATH (see path_prefix
option) and that streaming connection for the server is working. This activates
connection checks as well as management (including compression) of WAL files. If
set to off (default) barman will rely only on continuous archiving for a server WAL
archive operations, eventually terminating any running pg_receivexlog for the
server. Global/Server.

streaming_archiver_batch_size
This option allows you to activate batch processing of WAL files for the
streaming_archiver process, by setting it to a value > 0. Otherwise, the
traditional unlimited processing of the WAL queue is enabled. When batch
processing is activated, the archive-wal process would limit itself to maximum
streaming_archiver_batch_size WAL segments per single run. Integer.
Global/Server.

streaming_archiver_name
Identifier to be used as application_name by the receive-wal command. Only
available with pg_receivewal (or pg_receivexlog >= 9.3). By default it is set to
barman_receive_wal. Global/Server.

streaming_backup_name
Identifier to be used as application_name by the pg_basebackup command. By default
it is set to barman_streaming_backup. Global/Server.

streaming_conninfo
Connection string used by Barman to connect to the Postgres server via streaming
replication protocol. By default it is set to conninfo. Server.

streaming_wals_directory
Directory where WAL files are streamed from the PostgreSQL server to Barman.
Requires streaming_archiver to be enabled. Server.

tablespace_bandwidth_limit
This option allows you to specify a maximum transfer rate in kilobytes per second,
by specifying a comma separated list of tablespaces (pairs TBNAME:BWLIMIT). A
value of zero specifies no limit (default). Global/Server.

wal_retention_policy
Policy for retention of archive logs (WAL files). Currently only "MAIN" is
available. Global/Server.

wals_directory
Directory which contains WAL files. Server.

HOOK SCRIPTS

       The script definition is passed to a shell and can return any exit code.

       The shell environment will contain the following variables:

       BARMAN_CONFIGURATION
              configuration file used by barman

       BARMAN_ERROR
              error message, if any (only for the 'post' phase)

       BARMAN_PHASE
              'pre' or 'post'

       BARMAN_RETRY
              1 if it is a retry script (from 1.5.0), 0 if not

       BARMAN_SERVER
              name of the server

       Backup scripts specific variables:

       BARMAN_BACKUP_DIR
              backup destination directory

       BARMAN_BACKUP_ID
              ID of the backup

       BARMAN_PREVIOUS_ID
              ID of the previous backup (if present)

       BARMAN_NEXT_ID
              ID of the next backup (if present)

       BARMAN_STATUS
              status of the backup

       BARMAN_VERSION
              version of Barman

       Archive scripts specific variables:

       BARMAN_SEGMENT
              name of the WAL file

       BARMAN_FILE
              full path of the WAL file

       BARMAN_SIZE
              size of the WAL file

       BARMAN_TIMESTAMP
              WAL file timestamp

       BARMAN_COMPRESSION
              type of compression used for the WAL file

       Recovery scripts specific variables:

       BARMAN_DESTINATION_DIRECTORY
              the directory where the new instance is recovered

       BARMAN_TABLESPACES
              tablespace relocation map (JSON, if present)

       BARMAN_REMOTE_COMMAND
              secure shell command used by the recovery (if present)

       BARMAN_RECOVER_OPTIONS
              recovery additional options (JSON, if present)

       Only  in  case  of  retry  hook scripts, the exit code of the script is checked by Barman.
       Output of hook scripts is simply written in the log file.

EXAMPLE

       Here is an example of configuration file:

              [barman]
              ; Main directory
              barman_home = /var/lib/barman

              ; System user
              barman_user = barman

              ; Log location
              log_file = /var/log/barman/barman.log

              ; Default compression level
              ;compression = gzip

              ; Incremental backup
              reuse_backup = link

              ; 'main' PostgreSQL Server configuration
              [main]
              ; Human readable description
              description =  "Main PostgreSQL Database"

              ; SSH options
              ssh_command = ssh postgres@pg

              ; PostgreSQL connection string
              conninfo = host=pg user=postgres

              ; PostgreSQL streaming connection string
              streaming_conninfo = host=pg user=postgres

              ; Minimum number of required backups (redundancy)
              minimum_redundancy = 1

              ; Retention policy (based on redundancy)
              retention_policy = REDUNDANCY 2

AUTHORS

       Barman maintainers (in alphabetical order):

       • Abhijit Menon-Sen

       • Jane Threefoot

       • Michael Wallace

       Past contributors (in alphabetical order):

       • Anna Bellandi (QA/testing)

       • Britt Cole (documentation reviewer)

       • Carlo Ascani (developer)

       • Francesco Canovai (QA/testing)

       • Gabriele Bartolini (architect)

       • Gianni Ciolli (QA/testing)

       • Giulio Calacoci (developer)

       • Giuseppe Broccolo (developer)

       • Jonathan Battiato (QA/testing)

       • Leonardo Cecchi (developer)

       • Marco Nenciarini (project leader)

       • Niccolò Fei (QA/testing)

       • Rubens Souza (QA/testing)

       • Stefano Bianucci (developer)

RESOURCES

       • Homepage: <https://www.pgbarman.org/>

       • Documentation: <https://docs.pgbarman.org/>

       • Professional support: <https://www.enterprisedb.com/>

COPYING

       Barman is the property of EnterpriseDB UK Limited and its code is  distributed  under  GNU
       General Public License v3.

       © Copyright EnterpriseDB UK Limited 2011-2023

AUTHORS

       EnterpriseDB <https://www.enterprisedb.com>.

NAME

DESCRIPTION

CONFIGURATION FILE LOCATIONS

CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX

CONFIGURATION FILE DIRECTORY

OPTIONS

HOOK SCRIPTS

EXAMPLE

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS

RESOURCES

COPYING

AUTHORS