How to run pg_dump so that it doesn't slow down other connections? I am running a daily pg_dump on PostgreSQL 9.3.14 database of approx. 50 GB of size:

pg_dump -Fc dbname &gt; file


The problem I am having is that while pg_dump runs, which takes several hours, all the other database connections are extremely slow.

Is there any way to make the pg_dump consume less resources or is there a more proper way of creating periodic backups that doesn't slow down the db server so much?

E.g. would running pg_dump from a different server help the database I/O on its working server?
Little hard to say, because we don't know your database setup. 

does your database use schemas with views in it. you can use the -n option to dump only the data schemas and rebuild you views after the restore. 

maybe you can do it on a quit moment on your server, with -j you can parallelize the dump. It will take less time, but uses more memory.

Otherwise the slave option is a good practice