New features:

• Remote backup and restore usingSSH. It uses an operation model when backup catalog is located on local machine, whilePostgreSQL is located on remote machine, the only exceptions arearchive-push andarchive-get commands which are always launched from database server side. For remote mode to work a localssh binary is used. All--remote-* and--ssh-* options can be used withadd-instance,set-config,backup,restore,archive-push andarchive-get commands. Currently remote operations are not supported on Windows.

  • Option--remote-proto allows to specify a protocol to use for remote operations. Currently onlyssh andnone values are supported. If option--remote-host is specified then default value for--remote-proto isssh.
  • Option--remote-host allows to specify remote host IP address or hostname to connect in remote mode.
  • Option--remote-port allows to specify remote host port to connect in remote mode. Default value:22.
  • Option--remote-user allows to specify remote host user to connect in remote mode. Default value: current user.
  • Option--remote-path allows to specify a directory path with pg_probackup binary on remote machine.
  • Option--ssh-options allows to specify a string of options forssh. Default:none.

• Merge partially-expired incremental chains during backups retention purge. This is the analog of OracleIncrementally Updated Backups feature.

  • Flag--merge-expired allows to merge partially-expired incremental backup chains. Can be used only ifretention-window policy is set. Can be safely used with--delete-expired flag. Can be used only withbackup anddelete commands.
  • Flag--dry-run allows to perform a trial retention run without any changes. Can be used only withbackup anddelete commands.

• Support of external directories. It can be used for adding to backup any files and directories located outside of PGDATA, e.g. configs, logs or scripts.

  • Option--external-dirs allows to specify multiple directories separated by colon that should be copied during backup. Default value: 'none'. Can be used only withset-config andbackup commands. Example:--external-dirs=/etc/postgresql/9.6:/opt/scripts.
  • Option--external-mapping similarly to option--tablespace-mapping allows to relocate specified external directory to a new location duringrestore.Can be specified multiple times. Can be used only withrestore command. Example:--external-mapping=/etc/postgresql/9.6=/tmp/configs --external-mapping=/opt/scripts=/tmp/scripts
  • Flag--skip-external-dirs allows to skip restoring of external directories duringrestore. Can be used only withrestore command.

• New commandcheckdb provides additional facilities to check yourPostgreSQL instance. It allows to validate all data files located in PGDATA via block checksums matching and page header sanity checks. Optionally all indexes in all databases in PostgreSQL instance can be logically verified using extensionsamcheck oramcheck_next.

  • Flag--amcheck allows logical verification of all indexes in specified PostgreSQL instance if no corruption was found during data files checking. It requires eitheramcheck oramcheck_next extension to be available. Uses bt_index_check() function from said extensions.
  • Flag--skip-block-validation, which already exists invalidate command, completely disables data files validation. Can be used only with--amcheck flag.
  • Flag--heapallindexed allows to check that all heap tuples that should be indexed are actually indexed. Can be used for PG11 or, ifamcheck_next extension is installed, for any PG version. Can be used only with--amcheck flag.

• Flag--temp-slot allows user to use temporary replication slot for STREAM backups. Default temp slot name ispg_probackup_slot which can be changed via--slot option.

Improvements:

• Windows support is now considered stable.
• Additional support of threads byvalidate command. Now it use multiple threads defined by-j option for checking WAL files.
• Flag--no-validate can now be used withbackup command. It allows not to force validation after successful backup.
• Now invalid backups will be deleted during retention purge, if they are not guarded by retention.
• Show merge time after backup merging byshow command.
• Options--master-* and--replica-timeout are deprecated. Deprecated options are still usable for the purpose of backward compatibility.
• Now an absolute path topg_probackup binary is used inrestore_command option ofrecovery.conf file generated byrestore command.
• Options--time,--xid,--lsn,--timeline and flags--inclusive,--immediate are deprecated. Use--recovery-target-time,--recovery-target-xid,--recovery-target-lsn,--recovery-target-inclusive,--recovery-target-timeline and--recovery-target options instead. Deprecated options and flags are still usable for the purpose of backward compatibility.
• Option--recovery-target has two allowed values:immediate which is identical to deprecated flag--immediate andlatest which stands for default recovery behavior - recover to the end of the all available WAL log.
• Usage of parent_link inmerge,restore andbackup commands instead of time sorting makes incremental chains more robust to time lapses and other anomalies.

Bugfixes:

• Update program_version of the target backup, recalculate CRC of a unchanged file aftermerge command.
• Changing backup metadata is now atomic.
• Duringmerge command destination backup now inherit WAL mode from parent.
• Allow to delete backups with missing or emtpy.control files.
• More lenient handling of.rotation file been empty or containing garbage, WARNING is issued now instead of ERROR.