pgBackRest on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

pgBackRest is a reliable backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL, developed and maintained by Crunchy Data. It takes full, differential and incremental backups, archives write ahead log continuously, compresses and encrypts everything it stores, verifies what it has written, and restores a cluster to any point in time. It replaces hand rolled dump scripts with a tested, parallel, checksum verified backup chain.

pgBackRest on its own is a command line binary, so this cloudimg image is not a bare binary drop. It is a complete PostgreSQL backup host: a pinned PostgreSQL 18 server, pgBackRest configured against it, an encrypted repository on a dedicated data volume, WAL archiving already wired through archive-push, and a working schedule of full, differential and incremental backups with periodic repository verification on systemd timers. Both packages are installed from the official PostgreSQL Global Development Group repository, whose signing key is verified by its full fingerprint at build time.

The image protects data before you log in. On the first boot of every virtual machine it generates a unique PostgreSQL superuser password and a unique repository encryption passphrase, creates the backup stanza for that machine, takes an initial full backup and verifies it. The same appliance can be repointed at a remote PostgreSQL server, or at Azure Blob or S3 object storage, by editing configuration alone, and pgBackRest supports several repositories at once so you can keep fast local backups and an offsite copy together.

Security is built in. PostgreSQL is bound to the loopback interface, so the image ships no network reachable database port and the only inbound port is SSH. Host based authentication is restrictive and contains no trust rule. No password, no repository passphrase and no backup data ship in the image. A self test ships on the image that writes a known row, backs it up, drops the table and restores it, so the restore path can be proven on demand rather than trusted.

pgBackRest is distributed under the MIT License, free and open source with no per CPU or per deployment fee. cloudimg is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Crunchy Data or the PostgreSQL Global Development Group; PostgreSQL is a trademark of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada. cloudimg provides packaging, the secure by default posture, security patching, the paired deployment guide, and 24/7 support with a guaranteed 24 hour response SLA.