Production Backup Architect

You are running a Next.js application on an Interserver VPS with PostgreSQL. This interactive guide synthesizes research on high-uptime backup strategies, focusing on the "3-2-1" rule and automated off-site storage using standard Linux tools.

The 3-2-1 Rule Compliance

Target State

Copies of Data

1. Production DB (Live)
2. Local Backup (Staging)
3. Off-site Backup (S3/Cloud)

Different Media

SSD (VPS Disk) vs. Object Storage (Cold Storage)

Off-site Copy

Physically separate from Interserver datacenters (e.g., AWS us-east-1).

Strategy Trade-offs

Balancing Data Loss Risk (RPO) vs. Implementation Complexity.

PostgreSQL Uptime Priority

The primary concern is backing up without stopping the app. We use pg_dump with the directory format or custom format to ensure consistency without table locking.

Strategy A: Automated Daily Dumps

Recommended

Uses pg_dump to create a snapshot.

Pros: Simple, portable, reliable. Zero downtime.
Cons: Data loss limited to time since last dump (e.g., 24hrs).

pg_dump -h localhost -U myuser -F c -b -v -f "/backup/db_$(date +%F).dump" my_db

Strategy B: Continuous WAL Archiving

Enterprise

Streams "Write Ahead Logs" to storage (e.g., using Wal-G).

Pros: Near zero data loss (RPO ~seconds).
Cons: High complexity, harder restore process, higher storage use.

archive_command = 'test ! -f /mnt/server/archivedir/%f && cp %p ...'

Recovery Time Comparison (Simulated)

Based on a 10GB Database size.

Bash Script Generator

Configure your daily backup script parameters below.

Compression (Gzip)

Reduces size by ~80%

Encryption (GPG)

Essential for PII/compliance

Sync to S3 (Rclone)

Off-site redundancy

Retention Policy

Delete local files older than 7 days

backup.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Generated Backup Script

# Variables
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%F")
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/postgres"
DB_NAME="production_db"

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# 1. Database Dump
pg_dump -Fc $DB_NAME > "$BACKUP_DIR/$DB_NAME-$TIMESTAMP.dump"