Restore Azure PostgreSQL databases using Azure CLI
This article explains how to restore Azure PostgreSQL databases to an Azure PostgreSQL server backed-up by Azure Backup.
Being a PaaS database, the Original Location Recovery (OLR) option to restore by replacing the existing database (from where the backups were taken) isn't supported. You can restore from a recovery point to create a new database in the same Azure PostgreSQL server or in any other PostgreSQL server. This is called Alternate-Location Recovery (ALR) that helps to keep both - the source database and the restored (new) database.
In this article, you'll learn how to:
Restore to create a new PostgreSQL database
Track the restore operation status
We'll refer to an existing Backup vault TestBkpVault, under the resource group testBkpVaultRG in the examples.
Restore a backed-up PostgreSQL database
Set up permissions
Backup vault uses managed identity to access other Azure resources. To restore from backup, Backup vault’s managed identity requires a set of permissions on the Azure PostgreSQL server to which the database should be restored.
To assign the relevant permissions for vault's system-assigned managed identity on the target PostgreSQL server, see the set of permissions needed to backup Azure PostgreSQL database.
To restore the recovery point as files to a storage account, the Backup vault's system-assigned managed identity needs access on the target storage account.
Fetch the relevant recovery point
To list all backup instances within a vault, use az dataprotection backup-instance list command. Then fetch the relevant instance using the az dataprotection backup-instance show command. Alternatively, for at-scale scenarios, you can list backup instances across vaults and subscriptions using the az dataprotection backup-instance list-from-resourcegraph command.
az dataprotection backup-instance list-from-resourcegraph --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL -subscriptions "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"
{
"datasourceId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/ossdemoRG/providers/Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/testpostgresql/databases/empdb11",
"extendedLocation": null,
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/testBkpVault/backupInstances/testpostgresql-empdb11-957d23b1-c679-4c94-ade6-c4d34635e149",
"identity": null,
"kind": "",
"location": "",
"managedBy": "",
"name": "testpostgresql-empdb11-957d23b1-c679-4c94-ade6-c4d34635e149",
"plan": null,
"properties": {
"currentProtectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
"dataSourceInfo": {
"baseUri": null,
"datasourceType": "Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/databases",
"objectType": "Datasource",
"resourceID": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/ossdemoRG/providers/Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/testpostgresql/databases/empdb11",
"resourceLocation": "westus",
"resourceName": "postgres",
"resourceProperties": null,
"resourceType": "Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/databases",
"resourceUri": ""
},
"dataSourceProperties": null,
"dataSourceSetInfo": {
"baseUri": null,
"datasourceType": "Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/databases",
"objectType": "DatasourceSet",
"resourceID": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/ossdemoRG/providers/Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/testpostgresql",
"resourceLocation": "westus",
"resourceName": "testpostgresql",
"resourceProperties": null,
"resourceType": "Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers",
"resourceUri": ""
},
"datasourceAuthCredentials": {
"objectType": "SecretStoreBasedAuthCredentials",
"secretStoreResource": {
"secretStoreType": "AzureKeyVault",
"uri": "https://vikottur-test.vault.azure.net/secrets/dbauth3",
"value": null
}
},
"friendlyName": "testpostgresql\\empdb11",
"objectType": "BackupInstance",
"policyInfo": {
"policyId": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/testBkpVault/backupPolicies/osspol3",
"policyParameters": null,
"policyVersion": ""
},
"protectionErrorDetails": null,
"protectionStatus": {
"errorDetails": null,
"status": "ProtectionConfigured"
},
"provisioningState": "Succeeded",
"validationType": null
},
"protectionState": "ProtectionConfigured",
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"sku": null,
"subscriptionId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"tags": null,
"tenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"type": "microsoft.dataprotection/backupvaults/backupinstances",
"vaultName": "testBkpVault",
"zones": null
}
.
.
.
.
.
Once the instance is identified, fetch the relevant recovery point using the az dataprotection recovery-point list command.
az dataprotection recovery-point list --backup-instance-name testpostgresql-empdb11-957d23b1-c679-4c94-ade6-c4d34635e149 -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault
{
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/testBkpVaultRG/providers/Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/testBkpVault/backupInstances/testpostgresql-empdb11-957d23b1-c679-4c94-ade6-c4d34635e149/recoveryPoints/9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a",
"name": "9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a",
"properties": {
"friendlyName": "2031fdb43a914114b6ce644eb6fcb5ce",
"objectType": "AzureBackupDiscreteRecoveryPoint",
"policyName": "oss-clitest-policy",
"policyVersion": null,
"recoveryPointDataStoresDetails": [
{
"creationTime": "2021-09-13T15:17:41.209845+00:00",
"expiryTime": null,
"id": "beddea84-7b30-42a5-a752-7c75baf96a52",
"metaData": "{\"objectType\":\"PostgresBackupMetadata\",\"version\":\"1.0\",\"postgresVersion\":\"11\",\"dbName\":\"postgres\",\"serverName\":\"testpostgresql\",\"serverFQDN\":\"testpostgresql.postgres.database.azure.com\",\"usernameUsed\":\"backupadmin@testpostgresql\",\"backupToolPath\":\"postgresql-11.6-1\\\\bin\\\\pg_dump.exe\",\"backupType\":\"Full\",\"backupDumpFormat\":\"CUSTOM\",\"backupToolArgsFormat\":\"--no-acl --no-owner --serializable-deferrable --no-tablespaces --quote-all-identifiers -Fc -d postgres://{0}:{1}@{2}:5432/{3}?sslmode=verify-full&sslrootcert=E:\\\\approot\\\\Plugins\\\\Postgres\\\\..\\\\..\\\\postgres-root.crt\",\"storageUnits\":{\"1\":\"DbBackupDumpData\"},\"streamNamesInFirstStorageUnit\":[\"dbbkpdmpdatastream-1631546260050\"],\"pitId\":\"2031fdb43a914114b6ce644eb6fcb5ce\",\"bytesTransferred\":2063,\"dataSourceSize\":8442527,\"backupToolVersion\":\"11\"}",
"rehydrationExpiryTime": null,
"rehydrationStatus": null,
"state": "COMMITTED",
"type": "VaultStore",
"visible": true
}
],
"recoveryPointId": "9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a",
"recoveryPointTime": "2021-09-13T15:17:41.209845+00:00",
"recoveryPointType": "Full",
"retentionTagName": "default",
"retentionTagVersion": "637671427933449525"
},
"resourceGroup": "testBkpVaultRG",
"systemData": null,
"type": "Microsoft.DataProtection/backupVaults/backupInstances/recoveryPoints"
}
If you need to fetch the recovery point from archive tier, then the type variable in recoveryPointDataStoreDetails will be ArchiveStore.
Prepare the restore request
There are various restore options for a PostgreSQL database. You can restore the recovery point as another database or restore as files. The recovery point can be on archive tier as well.
Restore as database
Construct the Azure Resource Manager ID (ARM ID) of the new PostgreSQL database. You need to create this with the target PostgreSQL server to which permissions were assigned. Also, construct the required PostgreSQL database name. For example, a PostgreSQL database can be named emprestored21 under a target PostgreSQL server targetossserver in resource group targetrg with a different subscription.
$targetOssId = "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/resourceGroups/targetrg/providers/providers/Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/targetossserver/databases/emprestored21"
Use the az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery command to prepare the restore request with all relevant details.
az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL --restore-location {location} --source-datastore VaultStore --target-resource-id $targetOssId --recovery-point-id 9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a --secret-store-type AzureKeyVault --secret-store-uri "https://restoreoss-test.vault.azure.net/secrets/dbauth3" > OssRestoreReq.JSON
For an archive-based recovery point, you need to:
- Rehydrate from archive datastore to vault store
- Modify the source datastore
- Add other parameters to specify the rehydration priority
- Specify the duration for which the rehydrated recovery point should be retained in the vault data store
- Restore as a database from this recovery point
Use the following command to prepare the request for all the previous-mentioned operations, at once.
az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL --restore-location {location} --source-datastore ArchiveStore --target-resource-id $targetOssId --recovery-point-id 9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a --secret-store-type AzureKeyVault --secret-store-uri "https://restoreoss-test.vault.azure.net/secrets/dbauth3" --rehydration-priority Standard --rehydration-duration 12 > OssRestoreFromArchiveReq.JSON
Restore as files
Fetch the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the container, within the storage account to which permissions were assigned. For example, a container named testcontainerrestore under a storage account testossstorageaccount with a different subscription.
$contURI = "https://testossstorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/testcontainerrestore"
Use the az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery-as-files command to prepare the restore request with all relevant details.
az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery-as-files --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL --restore-location {location} --source-datastore VaultStore -target-blob-container-url $contURI --target-file-name "empdb11_postgresql-westus_1628853549768" --recovery-point-id 9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a > OssRestoreAsFilesReq.JSON
For archive-based recovery point, in the following script:
- Modify the source datastore.
- Add the rehydration priority and the retention duration, in days, of the rehydrated recovery point.
az dataprotection backup-instance restore initialize-for-data-recovery-as-files --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL --restore-location {location} --source-datastore ArchiveStore -target-blob-container-url $contURI --target-file-name "empdb11_postgresql-westus_1628853549768" --recovery-point-id 9da55e757af94261afa009b43cd3222a --rehydration-priority Standard --rehydration-duration 12 > OssRestoreAsFilesReq.JSON
To validate if the JSON file will succeed to create new resources, use the az dataprotection backup-instance validate-for-restore command.
Trigger the restore
Use the az dataprotection backup-instance restore trigger command to trigger the restore operation with the previously prepared request.
az dataprotection backup-instance restore trigger -g testBkpVaultRG --vault-name TestBkpVault --backup-instance-name testpostgresql-empdb11-957d23b1-c679-4c94-ade6-c4d34635e149 --restore-request-object OssRestoreReq.JSON
Tracking job
Track all jobs using the az dataprotection job list command. You can list all jobs and fetch a particular job detail.
You can also use Az.ResourceGraph to track jobs across all Backup vaults. Use the az dataprotection job list-from-resourcegraph command to get the relevant job that is across all Backup vaults.
az dataprotection job list-from-resourcegraph --datasource-type AzureDatabaseForPostgreSQL --operation Restore
Next steps
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