PGBackup.com
Infrastructure
database backup service
SHOW HN2016
46points
47comments
#778of 2,264 in 2016
Top 35%of 2016 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
1 positive, 10 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 16 critical, out of 27 comments about the project. Thread score -0.47.
Idea: 1 for, 7 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 4 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Demand for a managed Postgres backup service seems real
From 2 comments
I would pay for this. The product you should be building is replication (what you have actually built) and wal-e configured to backup to amazon s3 (where I provide the bucket).…
sandGorgon on HNI can definitely see the demand for something like this, but the engineering on it becomes quite difficult. Without the ability to cancel long running queries there can be some…
craigkerstiens on HN
Objections
A replica is not a backup; it replicates deletes and corruption
From 3 comments
> A dedicated, virtual server that runs your postgres version in replica mode. It continuously receives changes from your primary database server, becoming an off-site backup.…
koolba on HNInstead of terming it "backup", won't "replication" be more appropriate?
0xmohit on HNWhat a shame. A true backup as a service would be useful. A replication scheme could easily be implemented within a day by yourself, and is not really a backup. Have you looked…
AznHisoka on HN
Exposing Postgres port publicly is a security risk
From 3 comments
> exposing the port would not add liabilities. Famous last words of security on the internet.
monksy on HNThe comment caught me off guard as well. It seems as a customer you're placing a lot of trust in this company as you're replicating your data to them and then trusting that they…
brandon272 on HNDo you expect us to open the port on public interface?
roshansingh on HN
Backups are unencrypted and the provider can read customer data
From 3 comments
Thanks for your feedback! Are you comfortable with replicating your unencrypted data for your use case? The base_backup+xlog backup is going to be our next feature. Backing those…
EmielMols on HNSeeing a service like this makes me wonder if Postgres could support encrypted replication. That would allow using a service like this to provide reliable backup without having…
JoshTriplett on HNgood point. make your tech so that you can guarantee that you will never have access to customers data. If there is a replication failure.. so you kill the machine and respawn it…
sandGorgon on HN
Name is confusing; implies backup rather than replication
From 2 comments
Instead of terming it "backup", won't "replication" be more appropriate?
0xmohit on HNIt is highly confusing. If i hadn't read the comments here i - after a first glaze - would have also thought this was "snapshot, backup and forget" service.
kennell on HN
Cost not justified given WAL-E can be set up quickly
From 1 comment
Not sure if the cost of this is worth it. I set up WAL-E (https://github.com/wal-e/wal-e) to do server-side encrypted backups (it does a daily base backup + continuous WAL…
infinite8s on HN
Requests
Point-in-time recovery with base backups and WAL
From 2 comments
Honestly, if you wanted to offer backup as a service for postgresql just using barman would be a much better solution than replication (which still involves shipping transaction…
snuxoll on HNI would pay for this. The product you should be building is replication (what you have actually built) and wal-e configured to backup to amazon s3 (where I provide the bucket).…
sandGorgon on HN
Encrypted backups or encrypted replication
From 2 comments
Seeing a service like this makes me wonder if Postgres could support encrypted replication. That would allow using a service like this to provide reliable backup without having…
JoshTriplett on HNThanks for your feedback! Are you comfortable with replicating your unencrypted data for your use case? The base_backup+xlog backup is going to be our next feature. Backing those…
EmielMols on HN
Ability to restore from a chosen backup
From 1 comment
I would pay for this. The product you should be building is replication (what you have actually built) and wal-e configured to backup to amazon s3 (where I provide the bucket).…
sandGorgon on HN
Support for overlay or SSH/VPN connectivity instead of open ports
From 2 comments
We might add proxy-over-ssh/vlan options later on, but it would be incompatible with the 2-clicks-and-your-done interface right now. As far as I know, postgres authentication is…
EmielMols on HNYou might want to use an overlay networking solution like https://wormhole.network Edit to add why: You'll have full reachability between pgbackup and your customer's servers…
NetStrikeForce on HN
Questions
Is the backup process running in a VM or container?
From 1 comment
Is the backup process running in a VM or container? From a security standpoint the former would be a lot stronger though it would be a lot more resource intensive on your end.
koolba on HN
Why not use replication instead of an offsite copy of the data?
From 1 comment
Instead of terming it "backup", won't "replication" be more appropriate?
0xmohit on HN
Alternatives named
Barman
From 1 comment
Honestly, if you wanted to offer backup as a service for postgresql just using barman would be a much better solution than replication (which still involves shipping transaction…
snuxoll on HN
pg_dump with tarsnap
From 1 comment
My current backup solution for my personal server is on a daily basis run sudo -u postgres pg_dumpall > /var/base/backups/db/postgres/backup.sql and then ship that plus many…
mey on HN