I’ve searched this long and hard and I haven’t really seen a good consensus that made sense. The SEO is really slowing me on this one, stuff like “restic backup database” gets me garbage.
I’ve got databases in docker containers in LXC containers, but that shouldn’t matter (I think).
me-me about containers in containers
I’ve seen:
- Just backup the databases like everything else, they’re “transactional” so it’s cool
- Some extra docker image to load in with everything else that shuts down the databases in docker so they can be backed up
- Shut down all database containers while the backup happens
- A long ass backup script that shuts down containers, backs them up, and then moves to the next in the script
- Some mythical mentions of “database should have a command to do a live snapshot, git gud”
None seem turnkey except for the first, but since so many other options exist I have a feeling the first option isn’t something you can rest easy with.
I’d like to minimize backup down times obviously, like what if the backup for whatever reason takes a long time? I’d denial of service myself trying to backup my service.
I’d also like to avoid a “long ass backup script” cause autorestic/borgmatic seem so nice to use. I could, but I’d be sad.
So, what do y’all do to backup docker databases with backup programs like Borg/Restic?
pg_dumpall
on a schedule, then restic to backup the dumps. I’m running Zalando Postgres in kubernetes so scheduled tasks and intercontainer networking is a bit simpler, but should be able to run a sidecar container in your compose fileSo you’re saying you dump on a sched to a <place> and then just let your restic backup pick it up asynchronously?
My backup service runs pg_dumpall, then borg create, then deletes the dump.