ApsaraDB RDS:Download backups

How it works

The advanced download feature converts snapshot backup files to a readable format before delivery.

1. Select the backup set or point in time to export.

2. Choose the download destination: a URL or an OSS bucket.

3. Choose the output format: CSV without headers, CSV with headers, SQL, or Parquet.

4. The system converts the snapshot backup file and generates the download output. Monitor task status on the Backup Download tab.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure that:

• The instance meets the following requirements:

  Check the instance edition and storage type on the Basic Information page. If the instance uses Premium Local SSDs or standard SSDs, upgrade the major engine version to switch the storage type to ESSD. See Upgrade the major engine version.

  RDS edition	Instance type	Minimum engine version	Download by backup set	Download by point in time
  RDS Cluster Edition	Dedicated	PostgreSQL 14 or later with ESSDs	Supported	Supported
  RDS Cluster Edition	General-purpose	PostgreSQL 14 or later with ESSDs	Supported	Supported
  RDS High Availability Edition	Dedicated	PostgreSQL 10 or later with ESSDs	Supported	Supported
  RDS High Availability Edition	General-purpose	PostgreSQL 10 or later with ESSDs	Supported	Supported
  RDS Basic Edition	New general-purpose	—	Supported	Not supported
  RDS Basic Edition	General-purpose	—	Supported	Not supported

• The instance resides in one of the following regions: China (Chengdu), China (Guangzhou), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hangzhou), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, or Germany (Frankfurt).

  The feature will be available in additional regions soon.

• You have authorized Data Disaster Recovery to access resources in your Alibaba Cloud account. Go to Cloud Resource Access Authorization and grant the AliyunDBSDefaultRole role.

• The encryption feature is not enabled on the instance. Advanced download is not supported for encrypted instances.

Limitations

• Supported schema objects: tables, indexes, user-defined data types, unique constraints, foreign key constraints, NOT NULL constraints, and table inheritance.

• Unsupported schema objects: CHECK constraints.

• Supported data types: Numeric, string, datetime, Boolean, enumerated, array, UUID, jsonb, and bytea. Parquet output converts all types to strings.

• Supported primary key types: SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT, SMALLSERIAL, SERIAL, BIGSERIAL, CHAR, VARCHAR, and composite primary keys. Tables without primary keys are also supported.

• System databases that cannot be exported: template1, template0, and rdsadmin.

• System schemas that cannot be exported: information_schema and pg_catalog.

• If the download destination is OSS, only the Standard storage class is supported. See Convert storage classes.

Create an advanced download task

1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the top navigation bar, select the region of the instance. Find the instance and click its ID.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Backup and Restoration.

3. On the Base Backups > Data Backup tab, find the backup set and click Download Instance Backup in the Actions column.

   By default, the console displays backup files from the last eight days. To view older backup files, change the time range.

4. In the Point in Time and Backup Set step, select Download by Point in Time or Download by Backup Set, then click Next.

   Download by Point in Time is available only when log backup is enabled. See Use the log backup feature.

5. In the Instance, Database, and Table step, click Next. Instance download is selected by default.

6. In the Select Download Destination and Format step, configure the download destination and format, then click Complete.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure that:

• The instance uses Premium Local SSDs. Check the storage type on the Basic Information page.

• The RAM user has backup file download permissions. See Grant backup file download permissions to a RAM user with read-only permissions.

Download a backup file

1. Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console. In the top navigation bar, select the region of the instance. Find the instance and click its ID.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Backup and Restoration.

3. Select the backup type:

   • For a data backup file: choose Base Backups > Data Backup.

   • For a log backup file: choose Base Backups > Log backup.

4. If you need backup files older than eight days, update the time range. The default range is the last eight days.

5. Find the backup file and click Download Instance Backup in the Actions column.

   - If Download Instance Backup is not displayed, verify that all prerequisites are met. - To restore data, select the data backup file closest in time to the target recovery point. - For archived log backup files used in data restoration, verify that: the instance number matches that of the corresponding data backup file, and the log backup start time is after the data backup end time and before the target recovery point.

6. In the dialog, click Download or copy the URL:

   • Copy Internal URL — Use this from a VPC-type ECS instance that shares a VPC with the RDS instance. This method is faster and more secure.

   • Copy Public URL — Use this when the RDS instance is not accessible over an internal network.

   - Download URLs expire one hour after generation. Refresh the page to get a new URL. - For the internal URL to work, the ECS instance and the RDS instance must reside in the same VPC. If they reside in VPCs in different regions, or if the ECS instance is in the classic network, use the public URL instead. - Internet downloads exceeding the free quota are charged. See Billing.