How we used delayed replication for disaster recovery with PostgreSQL

GitLab's infrastructure team manages the largest GitLab instance, with about 3 million users, utilizing PostgreSQL as a critical component to prevent data-loss disasters. Through backup and replication strategies, they address data recovery challenges, exemplified by the recovery of accidentally deleted data using delayed replication. Delayed replication involves applying changes with a time delay to a replica, enabling recovery of data to a specific point in time, such as before a deletion event. This is achieved through PostgreSQL's Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR) and archive recovery, allowing for efficient recovery without the need for a full snapshot restoration, which can be time-consuming. While delayed replication aids in recovering from accidental data loss, it is not a substitute for proper backups, which are essential for addressing more severe incidents like data center failures or corruption. The GitLab team highlights the importance of distinguishing between replication, which maintains database availability and load distribution, and backups, which are crucial for disaster recovery.

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