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In this post, I will teach how to backup PostgreSQL database to local. So let’s get started!

AppFog Command Line Tool

First, make sure you have af gem installed.

gem install af

Export Database

To backup, you need to export the database via af command

## login
af login
Attempting login to [https://api.appfog.com]
Email: [email protected]
Password: *********
Successfully logged into [https://api.appfog.com]

## export database
af export-service myservice		# myservice is the database you want to export
Exporting data from 'myservice': OK
http://dl.ap01.aws.af.cm/serialized/postgresql/<you database>/snapshots/1871?token=<random token>

Note: [email protected] is your AppFog username.

Download exported Database Backup

Then download the backup via the link shows at the console. Unzip the file, you will see two files in there:

• manifest
• content/1234.dump

Import to Local PostgreSQL

The *.dump file is just normal PostregSQL dump file, so you can import into any PostgreSQL as normal dump file. Since it is *.dump file, you will need to use pg_restore or PGAdmin 3 Client to restore.

Restore Using pg_restore

## create databse if you dont have
psql -U pgadmin -W
Password for user pgadmin: 
psql (9.1.7)
Type "help" for help.

pgadmin=# CREATE DATABASE development;
CREATE DATABASE
pgadmin=# \quit


## restore into database
pg_restore -c -d development -U pgadmin -W 1234.dump 
Password: 

Verify Restore

psql -U pgadmin -d development -W
Password for user pgadmin: 
psql (9.1.7)
Type "help" for help.

development=# \d
                  List of relations
 Schema |         Name          |   Type   |  Owner  
--------+-----------------------+----------+---------
 public | test                  | table    | pgadmin
 public | test_id_seq           | sequence | pgadmin
(2 rows)

Note: pgadmin is the database username, yours might not the same.

Note: development is the database name, you can use your prefered name.

Note: 1234.dump is the dump file name, your backup might not have same name.