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Create manual PostgreSQL® backups with pg_dump

Aiven provides fully automated backup management for PostgreSQL. All backups are encrypted with service-specific keys, and point-in-time recovery is supported to allow recovering the system to any point within the backup window. Aiven stores the backups to the closest available cloud storage to enhance restore speed.

Perform a backup of your database using the standard PostgreSQL pg_dump command. See the pg_dump docs, but a typical command looks like:

pg_dump 'POSTGRESQL_URI' \
    -f backup_folder     \
    -j 2                 \
    -F directory

Where:

  • POSTGRESQL_URI is the URL for PostgreSQL connection, from the service overview page.

This command creates a backup in directory format (ready for use with pg_restore) using 2 concurrent jobs and storing the output to a folder called backup_folder.

tip

pg_dump can be run against any standby node, using the Replica URI from the Aiven Console. Creating more jobs via the -j option can be useful, since it may not be a problem to add extra load to the standby node.