pg_basebackup is the built-in binary format backup tool available with PostgreSQL. Only the backups taken using pg_basebackup can be used for point-in-time recovery and not pg_dump or pg_dumpall.
This can also be performed from the standby and not just the master. So, we can offload the backups to a standby that is always in sync and on a faster network.
pg_basebackup cannot run in parallel mode and does not support incremental or differential backups. So, it may be a great tool when the backup is a few hundred gigabytes and stored in the same data center. If the backup is several terabytes in size and needs to be pushed over the network to the cloud or a remote backup server, then it is wise to try alternate open source backup tools upon testing pg_basebackup.
Getting ready
In order to run a backup using pg_basebackup, it requires an empty directory. If we have a requirement of running a daily or a weekly backup job, maybe scheduled using...
