On 2015-01-26 13:47:02 -0500, Stephen Frost wrote: > * Robert Haas (robertmh...@gmail.com) wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:27 AM, Adam Brightwell > > <adam.brightw...@crunchydatasolutions.com> wrote: > > > After re-reading through this thread is seems like EXCLUSIVEBACKUP > > > (proposed > > > by Magnus) seemed to be a potentially acceptable alternative. > > > > So this would let you do pg_start_backup() and pg_stop_backup(), but > > it wouldn't let you run pg_basebackup against the server? > > Right. We already have a role attribute which allows pg_basebackup > (replication). Also, with pg_basebackup / rolreplication, your role > is able to read the entire data directory from the server, that's not > the case with only rights to run pg_start/stop_backup. > > In conjunction with enterprise backup solutions and SANs, which offer > similar controls where a generally unprivileged user can have a snapshot > of the system taken through the SAN interface, you can give users the > ability to run ad-hoc backups of the cluster without giving them > superuser-level access or replication-level access.
I'm sorry if this has already been discussed, but the thread is awfully long already. But what's actually the point of having a separate EXCLUSIVEBACKUP permission? Using it still requires full file system access to the data directory, so the additional permissions granted by replication aren't really relevant. I don't think the comparison with the SAN snapshot functionality is apt: The SAN solution itself will still run with full data access. Just pressing the button for the snapshot requires less. You're comparing that button to pg_start/stop_backup() - but that doesn't make sense, because it's only useful if somebody actually takes the backup during that time. Greetings, Andres Freund -- Andres Freund http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/ PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training & Services -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers
