NAME

barman - backup and recovery manager for PostgreSQL

CONFIGURATION FILE LOCATIONS

The system-level Barman configuration file is located at

/etc/barman.conf

/etc/barman/barman.conf

and is overridden on a per-user level by

$HOME/.barman.conf

CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX

The Barman configuration file is a plain INI file. There is a general section called [barman] and a section [servername] for each server you want to backup. Rows starting with ; are comments.

CONFIGURATION FILE DIRECTORY

Barman supports the inclusion of multiple configuration files, through the configuration_files_directory option. Included files must contain only server specifications, not global configurations. If the value of configuration_files_directory is a directory, Barman reads all files with .conf extension that exist in that folder. For example, if you set it to /etc/barman.d, you can specify your PostgreSQL servers placing each section in a separate .conf file inside the /etc/barman.d folder.

OPTIONS

active: When set to true (default), the server is in full operational state. When set to false, the server can be used for diagnostics, but any operational command such as backup execution or WAL archiving is temporarily disabled. Setting active=false is a good practice when adding a new node to Barman. Server.
archiver: This option allows you to activate log file shipping through PostgreSQL’s archive_command for a server. If set to true (default), Barman expects that continous archiving for a server is in place and will activate checks as well as management (including compression) of WAL files that Postgres deposits in the incoming directory. Setting it to false, will disable standard continuous archiving for a server. Global/Server. (NOTE: this option is currently required to be enabled until Barman natively supports physical replication slots. Setting it to false will result in a disabled server).
backup_directory: Directory where backup data for a server will be placed. Server.
backup_method: Configure the way barman executes a backup. Currently, only rsync. Global/Server.
backup_options: This option allows you to control the way Barman interacts with PostgreSQL for backups. If set to exclusive_backup (default), barman backup executes backup operations using the standard exclusive backup approach (technically through pg_start_backup/pg_stop_backup). If set to concurrent_backup, Barman requires the pgespresso module to be installed on the PostgreSQL server (this allows you to perform a backup from a standby server). Global/Server.
bandwidth_limit: This option allows you to specify a maximum transfer rate in kilobytes per second. A value of zero specifies no limit (default). Global/Server.
barman_home: Main data directory for Barman. Global.
barman_lock_directory: Directory for locks. Default: %(barman_home)s. Global.
basebackups_directory: Directory where base backups will be placed. Server.
basebackup_retry_sleep: Number of seconds of wait after a failed copy, before retrying Used during both backup and recovery operations. Positive integer, default 30. Global/Server.
basebackup_retry_times: Number of retries of base backup copy, after an error. Used during both backup and recovery operations. Positive integer, default 0. Global/Server.
compression: Standard compression algorithm applied to WAL files. Possible values are: gzip (requires gzip to be installed on the system), bzip2 (requires bzip2), pigz (requires pigz), pygzip (Python’s internal gzip compressor) and pybzip2 (Python’s internal bzip2 compressor). Global/Server.
conninfo: Connection string used by Barman to connect to the Postgres server. Server.
custom_compression_filter: Customised compression algorithm applied to WAL files. Global/Server.
custom_decompression_filter: Customised decompression algorithm applied to compressed WAL files; this must match the compression algorithm. Global/Server.
description: A human readable description of a server. Server.
errors_directory: Directory that contains WAL files that contain an error; usually this is related to a conflict with an existing WAL file (e.g. a WAL file that has been archived after a streamed one).
immediate_checkpoint: This option allows you to control the way PostgreSQL handles checkpoint at the start of the backup. If set to false (default), the I/O workload for the checkpoint will be limited, according to the checkpoint_completion_target setting on the PostgreSQL server. If set to true, an immediate checkpoint will be requested, meaning that PostgreSQL will complete the checkpoint as soon as possible. Global/Server.
incoming_wals_directory: Directory where incoming WAL files are archived into. Requires archiver to be enabled. Server.
last_backup_maximum_age: This option identifies a time frame that must contain the latest backup. If the latest backup is older than the time frame, barman check command will report an error to the user. If empty (default), latest backup is always considered valid. Syntax for this option is: “i (DAYS | WEEKS | MONTHS)” where i is a integer greater than zero, representing the number of days | weeks | months of the time frame. Global/Server.
log_file: Location of Barman’s log file. Global.
log_level: Level of logging (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL). Global.
minimum_redundancy: Minimum number of backups to be retained. Default 0. Global/Server.
network_compression: This option allows you to enable data compression for network transfers. If set to false (default), no compression is used. If set to true, compression is enabled, reducing network usage. Global/Server.
path_prefix: One or more absolute paths, separated by colon, where Barman looks for executable files. The paths specified in path_prefix are tried before the ones specified in PATH environment variable. Global/server.
post_archive_retry_script: Hook script launched after a WAL file is archived by maintenance. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post archive scenario, ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE. Global/Server.
post_archive_script: Hook script launched after a WAL file is archived by maintenance, after ‘post_archive_retry_script’. Global/Server.
post_backup_retry_script: Hook script launched after a base backup. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. In a post backup scenario, ABORT_STOP has currently the same effects as ABORT_CONTINUE. Global/Server.
post_backup_script: Hook script launched after a base backup, after ‘post_backup_retry_script’. Global/Server.
pre_archive_retry_script: Hook script launched before a WAL file is archived by maintenance, after ‘pre_archive_script’. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure at a higher level and interrupt the WAL archiving operation. Global/Server.
pre_archive_script: Hook script launched before a WAL file is archived by maintenance. Global/Server.
pre_backup_retry_script: Hook script launched before a base backup, after ‘pre_backup_script’. Being this a retry hook script, Barman will retry the execution of the script until this either returns a SUCCESS (0), an ABORT_CONTINUE (62) or an ABORT_STOP (63) code. Returning ABORT_STOP will propagate the failure at a higher level and interrupt the backup operation. Global/Server.
pre_backup_script: Hook script launched before a base backup. Global/Server.
recovery_options: Options for recovery operations. Currently only supports get-wal. get-wal activates generation of a basic restore_command in the resulting recovery.conf file that uses the barman get-wal command to fetch WAL files directly from Barman’s archive of WALs. Comma separated list of values, default empty. Global/Server.
retention_policy: Policy for retention of periodic backups and archive logs. If left empty, retention policies are not enforced. For redundancy based retention policy use “REDUNDANCY i” (where i is an integer > 0 and defines the number of backups to retain). For recovery window retention policy use “RECOVERY WINDOW OF i DAYS” or “RECOVERY WINDOW OF i WEEKS” or “RECOVERY WINDOW OF i MONTHS” where i is a positive integer representing, specifically, the number of days, weeks or months to retain your backups. For more detailed information, refer to the official documentation. Default value is empty. Global/Server.
retention_policy_mode: Currently only “auto” is implemented. Global/Server.
reuse_backup: This option controls incremental backup support. Global/Server. Possible values are: * off: disabled (default); * copy: reuse the last available backup for a server and create a copy of the unchanged files (reduce backup time); * link: reuse the last available backup for a server and create a hard link of the unchanged files (reduce backup time and space). Requires operating system and file system support for hard links.
streaming_archiver: This option allows you to use the PostgreSQL’s streaming protocol to receive transaction logs from a server. If set to on, Barman expects to find pg_receivexlog in the PATH (see path option) and that streaming connection for the server is working. This activates connection checks as well as management (including compression) of WAL files. If set to off (default) barman will rely only on continuous archiving for a server WAL archive operations, eventually terminating any running pg_receivexlog for the server. Global/Server.
streaming_conninfo: Connection string used by Barman to connect to the Postgres server via streaming replication protocol. Server.
streaming_wals_directory: Directory where WAL files are streamed from the PostgreSQL server to Barman. Requires streaming_archiver to be enabled. Server.
ssh_command: Command used by Barman to login to the Postgres server via ssh. Server.
tablespace_bandwidth_limit: This option allows you to specify a maximum transfer rate in kilobytes per second, by specifying a comma separated list of tablespaces (pairs TBNAME:BWLIMIT). A value of zero specifies no limit (default). Global/Server.
wal_retention_policy: Policy for retention of archive logs (WAL files). Currently only “MAIN” is available. Global/Server.
wals_directory: Directory which contains WAL files. Server.

HOOK SCRIPTS

The script definition is passed to a shell and can return any exit code.

The shell environment will contain the following variables:

BARMAN_CONFIGURATION: configuration file used by barman
BARMAN_ERROR: error message, if any (only for the ‘post’ phase)
BARMAN_PHASE: ‘pre’ or ‘post’
BARMAN_RETRY: 1 if it is a retry script (from 1.5.0), 0 if not
BARMAN_SERVER: name of the server

Backup scripts specific variables:

BARMAN_BACKUP_DIR: backup destination directory
BARMAN_BACKUP_ID: ID of the backup
BARMAN_PREVIOUS_ID: ID of the previous backup (if present)
BARMAN_STATUS: status of the backup
BARMAN_VERSION: version of Barman

Archive scripts specific variables:

BARMAN_SEGMENT: name of the WAL file
BARMAN_FILE: full path of the WAL file
BARMAN_SIZE: size of the WAL file
BARMAN_TIMESTAMP: WAL file timestamp
BARMAN_COMPRESSION: type of compression used for the WAL file

Only in case of retry hook scripts, the exit code of the script is checked by Barman. Output of hook scripts is simply written in the log file.

EXAMPLE

Here is an example of configuration file:

[barman]
; Main directory
barman_home = /var/lib/barman

; System user
barman_user = barman

; Log location
log_file = /var/log/barman/barman.log

; Default compression level
;compression = gzip

; Incremental backup
reuse_backup = link

; 'main' PostgreSQL Server configuration
[main]
; Human readable description
description =  "Main PostgreSQL Database"

; SSH options
ssh_command = ssh postgres@pg

; PostgreSQL connection string
conninfo = host=pg user=postgres

; PostgreSQL streaming connection string
streaming_conninfo = host=pg user=postgres

; Minimum number of required backups (redundancy)
minimum_redundancy = 1

; Retention policy (based on redundancy)
retention_policy = REDUNDANCY 2

AUTHORS

In alphabetical order:

Gabriele Bartolini (project leader)
Stefano Bianucci (developer)
Giuseppe Broccolo (QA/testing)
Giulio Calacoci (developer)
Francesco Canovai (QA/testing)
Leonardo Cecchi (developer)
Gianni Ciolli (QA/testing)
Marco Nenciarini (lead developer)

Past contributors:

Carlo Ascani

RESOURCES

Homepage: http://www.pgbarman.org/
Documentation: http://docs.pgbarman.org/

COPYING

Barman is the exclusive property of 2ndQuadrant Italia and its code is distributed under GNU General Public License v3.