pg-bkup/docs/how-tos/backup.md

---
title: Backup
layout: default
parent: How Tos
nav_order: 1
---

# Backup database

To backup the database, you need to add `backup` command.

{: .note }
The default storage is local storage mounted to __/backup__. The backup is compressed by default using gzip. The flag __`disable-compression`__ can be used when you need to disable backup compression.

{: .warning }
Creating a user for backup tasks who has read-only access is recommended!

The backup process can be run in scheduled mode for the recurring backups on Docker or Docker Swarm.
On Kubernetes it can be run as CronJob, you don't need to run it in Scheduled mode.

It handles __recurring__ backups of postgres database on Docker and can be deployed as __CronJob on Kubernetes__ using local, AWS S3 or SSH compatible storage.

```yml
services:
  pg-bkup:
    # In production, it is advised to lock your image tag to a proper
    # release version instead of using `latest`.
    # Check https://github.com/jkaninda/pg-bkup/releases
    # for a list of available releases.
    image: jkaninda/pg-bkup
    container_name: pg-bkup
    command: backup -d database
    volumes:
      - ./backup:/backup
    environment:
      - DB_PORT=5432
      - DB_HOST=postgres
      - DB_NAME=database
      - DB_USERNAME=username
      - DB_PASSWORD=password
    # pg-bkup container must be connected to the same network with your database
    networks:
      - web
networks:
  web:
```

### Backup using Docker CLI

```shell
 docker run --rm --network your_network_name \
 -v $PWD/backup:/backup/ \
 -e "DB_HOST=dbhost" \
 -e "DB_USERNAME=username" \
 -e "DB_PASSWORD=password" \
 jkaninda/pg-bkup backup -d database_name
```

In case you need to use recurring backups, you can use `--mode scheduled` and specify the periodical backup time by adding `--period "0 1 * * *"` flag as described below.

```yml
services:
  pg-bkup:
    # In production, it is advised to lock your image tag to a proper
    # release version instead of using `latest`.
    # Check https://github.com/jkaninda/pg-bkup/releases
    # for a list of available releases.
    image: jkaninda/pg-bkup
    container_name: pg-bkup
    #command:  backup -d database --mode scheduled --period "0 1 * * *"
    volumes:
      - ./backup:/backup
    environment:
      - DB_PORT=5432
      - DB_HOST=postgres
      - DB_NAME=database
      - DB_USERNAME=username
      - DB_PASSWORD=password
    # pg-bkup container must be connected to the same network with your database
    networks:
      - web
networks:
  web:
```