Re: Moving Postgres Database

[Jim Nasby <jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com>]

On May 31, 2006, at 9:18 PM, Chris wrote:
> Edward Coyle wrote:
> > I want to move a windows server 2003 based postgres database from  
> > one server to another server, can I just copy and paste the base  
> > folder or do I have to do a backup and restore? If so what options  
> > work best for creating a file to move?
>
> I think if you shut down postgresql on both systems then you can  
> copy/paste the folder structure.
>
> However they must be exactly the same versions - ie you can't do  
> this if one system is 8.0.1 and one is 8.1 or even if one is 8.0.1  
> and one is 8.0.4.

Actually, as long as you're not changing major versions (ie: 8.0.x to  
8.1.x) you'll be fine. What you can't do is change things like CPU  
architecture (well, sometimes you can, sometimes you can't). Changing  
OSes (ie: windows to unix) would also be questionable.

PostgreSQL does have some safeguards to make sure you don't end up  
trashing your data should the binary formats of the database differ,  
but this isn't something people do very often, so caveat emptor.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant      jnasby(at)pervasive(dot)com
Pervasive Software      http://pervasive.com    work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf       cell: 512-569-9461