code-snippets/docs/postgres/dump-and-restore.md

Dump and Restore

Handy commands for dumping and restoring Postgres databases.

::: info Most of these commands are run using Docker as then we don't need to have Postgres installed locally.

If a different version of Postgres is needed, just change the version number in the Docker image tag. :::

Setup

Create a pgpass file in the current directory with the following content:

<server>:<port>:<database>:<username>:<password>

::: tip Use * as a wildcard for any of the fields except for the password. :::

Dumping a Database

docker run --network host --rm -v .:/tmp -v ./pgpass:/root/.pgpass -e PGPASSFILE=/root/.pgpass postgres:16 bash -c "chmod 600 /root/.pgpass && pg_dump -h <server> -p <port> -U <username> <database> -f /tmp/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)_<database>_dump.sql -c --if-exists"

Dumping a Cluster

docker run --network host --rm -v .:/tmp -v ./pgpass:/root/.pgpass -e PGPASSFILE=/root/.pgpass postgres:16 bash -c "chmod 600 /root/.pgpass && pg_dumpall -h <server> -p <port> -U <username> -f /tmp/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)_<server>_cluster_dump.sql -c --if-exists"

Restoring from a SQL Dump

docker run --network host --rm -v .:/tmp -v ./pgpass:/root/.pgpass -e PGPASSFILE=/root/.pgpass postgres:16 bash -c "chmod 600 /root/.pgpass && psql -h <server> -p <port> -U <username> <database> -f /tmp/dump.sql -X"