So I'm trying to understand how Continuous Archiving and Point-In-Time-Recovery works.
From what i've read there are some steps involved for the incremental backup and some steps for the recovery:
Summary of PostgreSQL Backup Steps
- Modify postgresql.conf to support archive log
- Make a base backup (full database backup)
- Copy base backup to remote storage.
- Backup WAL (archive log files) to remote storage (continuous process)
Summary of PostgreSQL Point-in-time Recovery Steps
- Extract files from base backup
- Copy files from pg_xlog folder
- Create recovery.conf file
- Start Recover
So my questions is: Is it safe to stick with this base backup forever (plus all the wal files) until an error appears, and then apply the PITR steps? Or should I re-generate the base backup periodically (each week, month?) in order to minimize any type of error when trying to recover the database?
Thanks in advance.