BACKUP keyword

BACKUP - start and abort incremental backups to object storage.

note

Backup operations are only available in QuestDB Enterprise.

Looking for a detailed guide on backup creation and restoration? Check out our Backup and Restore guide!

Syntax​

BACKUP DATABASE;

BACKUP ABORT;

BACKUP DATABASE​

Starts a new incremental backup. Returns immediately with the backup timestamp. The backup runs asynchronously in the background.

BACKUP ABORT​

Aborts a running backup. Returns a single row:

ColumnTypeDescription
statusVARCHARaborted or not running
backup_idTIMESTAMPTimestamp of aborted backup, or NULL

Example when backup was running:

statusbackup_id
aborted2024-01-15T10:30:00.000000Z

Example when no backup was running:

statusbackup_id
not runningNULL

Monitoring backups​

Use the backups() table function to monitor backup progress and history:

SELECT * FROM backups();

Returns:

ColumnTypeDescription
statusVARCHARCurrent status (see below)
progress_percentINTCompletion percentage (0-100)
start_tsTIMESTAMPWhen the backup started
end_tsTIMESTAMPWhen the backup completed (NULL if running)
backup_errorVARCHARError message if backup failed
cleanup_errorVARCHARError message if cleanup failed

Status values​

backup in progress, backup complete, backup failed, cleanup in progress, cleanup complete, cleanup failed

See status values in the Backup guide for descriptions and recommended actions.

Examples​

Start a backup:

BACKUP DATABASE;

Result:

backup_timestamp
2024-08-24T12:34:56.789123Z

Check current backup status:

SELECT status, progress_percent FROM backups() ORDER BY start_ts DESC LIMIT 1;

Configuration​

Backups must be configured before use. At minimum:

backup.enabled=true
backup.object.store=s3::bucket=my-bucket;region=eu-west-1;...

See the Backup and Restore guide for full configuration options.

Limitations​

  • Only one backup can run at a time
  • Primary and replica backups are separate (each has its own backup_instance_name)

See also​