Laurenz Albe: How to corrupt your database (and how to deal with data corruption) (PGConf.EU 2023)

Learn how to identify, deal with, and prevent data corruption in your PostgreSQL database, and when to seek expert help to avoid further damage.

Key takeaways

Don’t ignore data corruption, it can lead to more damage if not addressed.
Take regular file system backups and run a pg_dump occasionally.
Identify which rows are broken and deal with them accordingly.
Don’t try to fix data corruption yourself, it’s usually better to seek expert help.
Understanding data corruption is crucial to avoiding and repairing it.
Index corruption can be easy to resolve, but database corruption can be more difficult.
It’s okay to delete rows that are broken, but be careful not to delete important data.
pg_reset_wall can be used to reset the wall segment size, but use with caution.
Backups are your friend when dealing with data corruption.
Deal with data corruption as soon as possible to avoid further damage.
Don’t try to handle data corruption yourself, it’s better to seek expert help.
Use pg_upgrade to upgrade your database, it’s a safer option.
Don’t ignore fsync errors, they can indicate data corruption.
Checksum failure can indicate data corruption, use pg_checksum to check.
Data corruption can be caused by bad hardware, software bugs, and human error.
Use pg_surgery to repair corrupted databases, but use with caution.
It’s important to have a good understanding of how data corruption occurs.
Don’t try to fix data corruption yourself, it’s usually better to seek expert help.
Use pg_inspect to inspect your database for errors.
Use pg_backup_stop to stop a backup in progress.
Don’t try to handle data corruption yourself, it’s better to seek expert help.
Use pg_upgrade --link to upgrade your database, it’s a safer option.
Data corruption can be caused by bad hardware, software bugs, and human error.

Laurenz Albe: How to corrupt your database (and how to deal with data corruption) (PGConf.EU 2023)

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