Simon Riggs wrote:
> In a world
> where PITR exists the role and importance of pg_dump has waned
> considerably. What *is* its principal function? Does it have just one?
>
>
>
I think that's probably a rather narrow perspective.
PITR doesn't work across versions or architectures or OSes. And if
you're using it for failover, then using it for standalone backups as
well means you will need a custom archive_command which can be a bit
tricky to get right. And a custom dump is almost always far smaller than
a PITR dump, even when it's compressed.
I suspect that the vast majority of our users are still using pg_dump to
make normal backups, and that it works quite happily for them. It's
really only when databases get pretty large that this becomes
unmanageable. I think using pg_dump for backups and PITR for failover is
a good combination for a great many users.
So, IMNSHO, making a full database backup is still pg_dump's principal
function.
cheers
andrew