Migrating a PostGIS database to a different server

At some point, user databases need to be migrated to a different server. This need for server migration could be due to a new hardware or database-server software upgrade.

The following are the three methods available for migrating a database:

• Dump and restore the database with pg_dump and pg_restore

• Perform an in-place upgrade of the database with pg_upgrade

• Perform streaming replication from one server to another

Getting ready

In this recipe, we will use the dump and restore methods to move user data to a new database with a new PostGIS installation. Unlike the other methods, this method is the most foolproof, works in all situations, and stores a backup in case things don't work as expected.

How to do it...

On the command line, perform the following steps:

1. Though a backup file was created in this chapter's third recipe, create a new backup file by executing the following command:

   > pg_dump -f chapter10.backup -F custom chapter10
   

2. Create a...