On Thu, 26 May 2005, Darrell A. Sullivan, II wrote:

> I am considering a few different open source databases and one of my big
> requirements is the ability to replicate my database for backup purposes.
>
> My major goal is not high availability. If the database becomes unavailable
> for several hours it will not be a tragedy. What I do want to make sure of
> is that all of my data updates are replicated to another server in a secured
> location a thousand miles from the main server for disaster recovery
> purposes.
>
> It appears that Slony is the proposed solution for this on PostgreSQL.

Let me second James Robinson's reply -- you should look at PostgreSQL's 
Point-in-time recovery instead of replication for what you want.  It's much 
easier to set up and maintain, if all you need is a continuous backup.

See documentation here:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/backup-online.html

I was able to start from the documentation and get a 9GB database cluster on 
a continual backup to another machine in an afternoon, including 
interruptions, with no extra downloads or compiling necessary.  A restore 
after several days of intense activity took a little under an hour from a 
fresh OS install.

If you decide later on that you want load balancing, high availability, or 
if you want to run queries on that server a thousand miles away, then you 
should look at Slony.

Hope this helps,
Steve Simms

--
Steve Simms <steve at deefs.net>
http://www.deefs.net