Dumping and Restoring the Database

In some circumstances, you may need to change the machine that hosts Momentum and migrate your data to new hardware. When moving to a host with the same operating system, architecture, and bit size, you can simply archive the /var/db/msyspg directory and then restore it. Otherwise, you can use PostgreSQL tools to dump and restore the database.

Database dumps are plain-text files that contain the SQL commands and data required to rebuild the database. Create a dump file using the pg_dump command and then restore your database by passing the dump file to pg_restore. The steps are itemized in the following:

1. Ensure that the database is not in use. Go to the command line of the machine that hosts the PostgreSQL server and issue the following command:

   shell> /opt/msys/3rdParty/bin/pg_dump -Fc -U msyspg ecelerity -f /path/to/db.dump

   No password is required to access the database from localhost.

   Using -c creates custom output making it possible to select and reorder archived items if necessary when restoring the database. It also compresses the file. The user msyspg is the PostgreSQL superuser; all database dumps and restorations should be performed as this user.

2. Since the dump file is compressed, you must use the pg_restore to restore the database. Go to the command line of the destination machine and issue the command:

   shell> /opt/msys/3rdParty/bin/pg_restore -c -U msyspg -d ecelerity /path/to/db.dump

3. Examine any warnings that are output. You will get errors trying to drop and create some of the schemas, but they are harmless.