Master Database Backups with WAL Archiving and Base Backups

A developer recounts a 2 a.m. disaster when a rogue migration wiped a critical table, exposing the weakness of relying on untested nightly dumps. The solution combines base backups with continuous WAL archiving to achieve point-in-time recovery, reducing RPO from hours to minutes. The article provides PostgreSQL configuration examples for setting up this robust backup strategy.