Backup with rsync /SSH

The backup over rsync was the only method for backups in Barman before version 2.0, and before 3.11 it was the only method that supported incremental backups. Current Barman supports file-level as well as block-level incremental backups. Backups using rsync implements the file-level backup feature. Please consult the “Features in detail” section for more information.

To take a backup using rsync you need to put these parameters inside the Barman server configuration file:

backup_method = rsync
ssh_command = ssh postgres@pg

The backup_method option activates the rsync backup method, and the ssh_command option is needed to correctly create an SSH connection from the Barman server to the PostgreSQL server.

Important

You will not be able to start a backup if WAL is not being correctly archived to Barman, either through the archiver or the streaming_archiver

To check if the server configuration is valid you can use the barman check command:

barman@backup$ barman check pg

To take a backup use the barman backup command:

barman@backup$ barman backup pg

Note

Starting with Barman 3.11.0, Barman uses a keep-alive mechanism when taking rsync-based backups. It keeps sending a simple SELECT 1 query over the libpq connection where Barman runs pg_backup_start /pg_backup_stop low-level API functions, and it's in place to reduce the probability of a firewall or a router dropping that connection as it can be idle for a long time while the base backup is being copied. You can control the interval of the hearbeats, or even disable the mechanism, through the keepalive_interval configuration option.