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Backup and restore in Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL

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APPLIES TO: Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL (powered by the Citus database extension to PostgreSQL)

Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL automatically creates backups of each node and stores them in locally redundant storage. Backups can be used to restore your cluster to a specified time. Backup and restore are an essential part of any business continuity strategy because they protect your data from accidental corruption or deletion.

Backups

At least once a day, Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL takes snapshot backups of data files and the database transaction log. The backups allow you to restore a server to any point in time within the retention period. (The retention period is currently 35 days for all clusters.) All backups are encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption.

In Azure regions that support availability zones, backup snapshots are stored in three availability zones. As long as at least one availability zone is online, the cluster is restorable.

Backup files can't be exported. They may only be used for restore operations in Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL.

Backup storage cost

For current backup storage pricing, see the Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL pricing page.

Restore

You can restore a cluster to any point in time within the last 35 days. Point-in-time restore is useful in multiple scenarios. For example, when a user accidentally deletes data, drops an important table or database, or if an application accidentally overwrites good data with bad data.

Important

Deleted clusters can't be restored. If you delete the cluster, all nodes that belong to the cluster are deleted and can't be recovered. To protect cluster resources, post deployment, from accidental deletion or unexpected changes, administrators can leverage management locks.

The restore process creates a new cluster in the same Azure region, subscription, and resource group as the original. The cluster has the original's configuration: the same number of nodes, number of vCores, storage size, user roles, PostgreSQL version, and version of the Citus extension.

Firewall settings and PostgreSQL server parameters are not preserved from the original cluster, they are reset to default values. The firewall will prevent all connections. You will need to manually adjust these settings after restore. In general, see our list of suggested post-restore tasks.

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