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FUNCTIONS / SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION FUNCTIONS

pg_backup_start

Read PG 18 manual ↗

Prepares the server to begin an on-line backup.

Signatures & examples

pg_backup_start ( label text [, fast boolean ] ) → pg_lsn
Prepares the server to begin an on-line backup. The only required parameter is an arbitrary user-defined label for the backup. (Typically this would be the name under which the backup dump file will be stored.) If the optional second parameter is given as true, it specifies executing pg_backup_start as quickly as possible. This forces an immediate checkpoint which will cause a spike in I/O operations, slowing any concurrently executing queries.
Version history 2
  1. PG 18 → 19changed
  2. PG 14 → 15added

Definition snapshot: 2026-09-14T13:14:25.684213+00:00@99e6866c · English manual source