pg_dump

pg_dump is a standard utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database.

It makes consistent backups even if the database is being used concurrently. pg_dump only dumps a single database. To back up an entire cluster, or to back up global objects that are common to all databases in a cluster, use pg_dumpall

Dumps can be output in SQL script or archive file formats. Script dumps are plain-text files containing SQL commands required to reconstruct the database to the state it was in at the time pg_dump was called.

psql -d aidbox -f aidbox_dump.sql

You can compress your dump using pipe gzip

pg_dump aidbox | gzip > aidbox_dump.sql.gz

To restore a database feed the dump file to psql.

cat aidbox_dump.sql | psql aidbox

Or, if you use a compressed dump

gunzip -c aidbox_dump.sql.gz | psql aidbox

The alternative archive file formats must be used with pg_restore to restore the database.

pg_dump works best for small databases (< 10 GB) and assumes downtime.