cookiecutter-django/docs/docker-postgres-backups.rst

PostgreSQL Backups with Docker
==============================

.. note:: For brevity it is assumed that you will be running the below commands against local environment, however, this is by no means mandatory so feel free to switch to ``production.yml`` when needed.


Prerequisites
-------------

#. the project was generated with ``use_docker`` set to ``y``;
#. the stack is up and running: ``docker compose -f local.yml up -d postgres``.


Creating a Backup
-----------------

To create a backup, run::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml exec postgres backup

Assuming your project's database is named ``my_project`` here is what you will see: ::

    Backing up the 'my_project' database...
    SUCCESS: 'my_project' database backup 'backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz' has been created and placed in '/backups'.

Keep in mind that ``/backups`` is the ``postgres`` container directory.


Viewing the Existing Backups
----------------------------

To list existing backups, ::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml exec postgres backups

These are the sample contents of ``/backups``: ::

    These are the backups you have got:
    total 24K
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.2K Mar 13 09:05 backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.2K Mar 12 21:13 backup_2018_03_12T21_13_03.sql.gz
    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.2K Mar 12 21:12 backup_2018_03_12T21_12_58.sql.gz


Copying Backups Locally
-----------------------

If you want to copy backups from your ``postgres`` container locally, ``docker cp`` command_ will help you on that.

For example, given ``9c5c3f055843`` is the container ID copying all the backups over to a local directory is as simple as ::

    $ docker cp 9c5c3f055843:/backups ./backups

With a single backup file copied to ``.`` that would be ::

    $ docker cp 9c5c3f055843:/backups/backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz .

You can also get the container ID using ``docker compose -f local.yml ps -q postgres`` so if you want to automate your backups, you don't have to check the container ID manually every time. Here is the full command ::

    $ docker cp $(docker compose -f local.yml ps -q postgres):/backups ./backups

.. _`command`: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/cp/

Restoring from the Existing Backup
----------------------------------

To restore from one of the backups you have already got (take the ``backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz`` for example), ::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml exec postgres restore backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz

You will see something like ::

    Restoring the 'my_project' database from the '/backups/backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz' backup...
    INFO: Dropping the database...
    INFO: Creating a new database...
    INFO: Applying the backup to the new database...
    SET
    SET
    SET
    SET
    SET
     set_config
    ------------

    (1 row)

    SET
    # ...
    ALTER TABLE
    SUCCESS: The 'my_project' database has been restored from the '/backups/backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz' backup.


Backup to Amazon S3
----------------------------------

For uploading your backups to Amazon S3 you can use the aws cli container. There is an upload command for uploading the postgres /backups directory recursively and there is a download command for downloading a specific backup. The default S3 environment variables are used. ::

    $ docker compose -f production.yml run --rm awscli upload
    $ docker compose -f production.yml run --rm awscli download backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz

Remove Backup
----------------------------------

To remove backup you can use the ``rmbackup`` command. This will remove the backup from the ``/backups`` directory. ::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml exec postgres rmbackup backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz


Upgrading PostgreSQL
----------------------------------

Upgrading PostgreSQL in your project requires a series of carefully executed steps. Start by halting all containers, excluding the postgres container. Following this, create a backup and proceed to remove the outdated data volume. ::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml down
    $ docker compose -f local.yml up -d postgres
    $ docker compose -f local.yml run --rm postgres backup
    $ docker compose -f local.yml down
    $ docker volume rm my_project_postgres_data

.. note:: Neglecting to remove the old data volume may lead to issues, such as the new postgres container failing to start with errors like ``FATAL:  database files are incompatible with server``, and ``could not translate host name "postgres" to address: Name or service not known``.

To complete the upgrade, update the PostgreSQL version in the corresponding Dockerfile (e.g. ``compose/production/postgres/Dockerfile``) and build a new version of PostgreSQL. ::

    $ docker compose -f local.yml build postgres
    $ docker compose -f local.yml up -d postgres
    $ docker compose -f local.yml run --rm postgres restore backup_2018_03_13T09_05_07.sql.gz
    $ docker compose -f local.yml up -d