pg_dumpall -- extract a PostgreSQL database cluster into a script file
Synopsis
pg_dumpall [options...]
Description
pg_dumpall is a utility for writing out
("dumping") all PostgreSQL databases of a cluster into
one script file. The script file contains SQL commands that can be
used as input to psql
to restore the databases. It does this by calling pg_dump for each database
in a cluster. pg_dumpall also dumps
global objects that are common to all databases.
(pg_dump does not save these objects.)
This currently includes the information about database users and
groups.
Thus, pg_dumpall is an integrated
solution for backing up your databases. But note a limitation:
it cannot dump "large objects", since
pg_dump cannot dump such objects into
text files. If you have databases containing large objects,
they should be dumped using one of pg_dump's
non-text output modes.
Since pg_dumpall reads tables from all
databases you will most likely have to connect as a database
superuser in order to produce a complete dump. Also you will need
superuser privileges to execute the saved script in order to be
allowed to add users and groups, and to create databases.
The SQL script will be written to the standard output. Shell
operators should be used to redirect it into a file.
pg_dumpall might need to connect several
times to the PostgreSQL server, asking for
a password each time. It is convenient to have a
$HOME/.pgpass file in such cases.
Options
The following command-line options are used to control the output format.
-c --clean
Include SQL commands to clean (drop) the databases before
recreating them.
-d --inserts
Dump data as INSERT commands (rather
than COPY). This will make restoration very
slow, but it makes the output more portable to other RDBMS
packages.
-D --column-inserts --attribute-inserts
Dump data as INSERT commands with explicit
column names (INSERT INTO
table
(column, ...) VALUES
...). This will make restoration very slow,
but it is necessary if you desire to rearrange column ordering.
-g --globals-only
Dump only global objects (users and groups), no databases.
-i --ignore-version
Ignore version mismatch between
pg_dumpall and the database server.
pg_dumpall can handle databases
from previous releases of PostgreSQL, but very old versions
are not supported anymore (currently prior to 7.0). Use this
option if you need to override the version check (and if
pg_dumpall then fails, don't say
you weren't warned).
-o --oids
Dump object identifiers (OIDs) for every
table. Use this option if your application references the OID
columns in some way (e.g., in a foreign key constraint).
Otherwise, this option should not be used.
-v --verbose
Specifies verbose mode. This will cause
pg_dumpall to print progress
messages to standard error.
The following command-line options control the database connection parameters.
-h host
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the database
server is running. If host begins with a slash, it is used as
the directory for the Unix domain socket. The default is
taken from the PGHOST environment variable, if
set, else a Unix domain socket connection is attempted.
-p port
The port number on which the server is listening. Defaults to
the PGPORT environment variable, if set, or a
compiled-in default.
-U username
Connect as the given user.
-W
Force a password prompt. This should happen automatically if
the server requires password authentication.
Long options are only available on some platforms.
Environment
PGHOST PGPORT PGUSER
Default connection parameters.
Notes
Since pg_dumpall calls
pg_dump internally, some diagnostic
messages will refer to pg_dump.
pg_dumpall will need to connect several
times to the PostgreSQL server. If password
authentication is configured, it will ask for a password each time. In
that case it would be convenient to set up a password file.
Examples
To dump all databases:
$pg_dumpall > db.out
To reload this database use, for example:
$psql -f db.out template1
(It is not important to which database you connect here since the
script file created by pg_dumpall will
contain the appropriate commands to create and connect to the saved
databases.)
See Also
pg_dump, psql. Check
there for details on possible error conditions.
