title: vCSA 5.5 vPostgres backup routine
body: <p>I would like to save a bourne shell <strong>script</strong> in <strong>/etc/cron.*</strong> on vCenter server virtual appliance 5.5 to backup the vpostgres (VMware vCenter postgresql database).</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034505%E2%80%8E" rel="nofollow">VMware knowledge base article 2034505</a> recommend stopping vpxd service before backing up.
  I suppose to prevent backing up the database in an inconsistent state (while vcenter operations are running).</p>
  
  <p>However the <a href="http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.2/static/continuous-archiving.html" rel="nofollow">official PostgreSQL documentation</a> precises :
  &lt;&lt;3.Perform the backup, using any convenient file-system-backup tool such as tar or cpio (not pg_dump or pg_dumpall). It is neither necessary nor desirable to stop normal operation of the database while you do this.>></p>
  
  <p>My questions are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Do I need to stop VMWare Composer and vpxd services prior to backing up the DB ?</li>
  <li>If not can I use cpio to back it up without stopping the services ? how ?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>PostgreSQL or VMware experts answers preferred please.</p>