When you work with PostgreSQL in real environments, one thing becomes very clear very quickly:
Backups are not optional.
It doesn’t matter how stable your database is — failures happen.
Disks crash
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Files get corrupted
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Someone runs the wrong delete query
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A patch goes wrong
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A standby needs rebuilding.
So having a proper backup strategy is not just good practice, it’s survival.
That’s exactly why tools like pgBackRest are so widely used in PostgreSQL production systems.
In this post, I’ll walk through a simple installation of pgBackRest on a Linux server (RHEL 9 / Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux).
Why pgBackRest?
PostgreSQL already provides tools like:
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pg_dump -
pg_basebackup
And yes, they work.
But once your database grows, or you start managing HA setups, these tools start feeling limited.
pgBackRest is built for serious PostgreSQL backup requirements.
Some of the reasons it stands out:
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Supports full, differential, and incremental backups
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Built-in compression and encryption
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Handles WAL archiving cleanly
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Faster backups using parallel processing
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Supports retention policies automatically
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Makes restores much easier and safer
In short, pgBackRest is what you want when backups need to be reliable, repeatable, and production-ready.
Installing pgBackRest on Linux
Let’s get into the setup.
Step 1: Enable the EPEL Repository
On RHEL-based systems, pgBackRest depends on a few packages that are available through EPEL.
So the first step is enabling it:
sudo dnf install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm
Step 2: Install libssh2 Dependency
pgBackRest uses libssh2 especially when you work with remote repositories or SSH-based setups.
Install it with:
sudo dnf install -y libssh2
Step 3: Install pgBackRest
Now that the dependency is ready, install pgBackRest itself:
sudo dnf install -y pgBackRest
This will pull the required packages and set up the utility on your server.
Step 4: Verify the Installation
After installation, it’s always a good idea to confirm the command is working:
pgbackrest version
At this stage, you might not see much backup information yet (because the repository isn’t configured), but the command should run successfully.
That confirms pgBackRest is installed properly.
What Makes pgBackRest Better Than Traditional Tools?
This is where pgBackRest really shines compared to the basic PostgreSQL utilities.
Incremental Backups
Unlike pg_basebackup, pgBackRest doesn’t copy the entire database every single time.
It can take:
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Full backup (first time)
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Differential backup (changes since last full)
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Incremental backup (changes since last backup)
This saves a lot of storage and time.
WAL Archiving + Point-in-Time Recovery
pgBackRest handles WAL archiving in a clean way, which makes PITR (Point-in-Time Recovery) much easier.
If something breaks at 2:37 PM, you can restore exactly up to 2:36 PM.
That’s a huge advantage in production.
Compression and Encryption Built In
With pgBackRest you don’t need external scripts for compression.
It supports:
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Compressed backups
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Encrypted backups
Which is very useful when backups are stored remotely or in cloud storage.
Parallel Backup and Restore
For large databases, pgBackRest is significantly faster because it supports parallel processing.
Backups that take hours with traditional tools can be completed much quicker.
Backup Validation and Retention Policies
pgBackRest can automatically:
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Validate backups
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Expire old backups
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Maintain retention rules
So you don’t end up with hundreds of old backups eating up storage.
Final Thoughts
If you are working with PostgreSQL seriously — especially in production or HA environments — pgBackRest is one of the best tools you can add to your setup.
Installation is simple, and once configured properly, it gives you:
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Reliable backups
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Faster restores
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PITR support
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Automation and safety
In the next post, I’ll cover:
✅ Configuring the backup repository
✅ Setting up WAL archiving
✅ Taking the first full backup
✅ Restore testing
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