Enable and disable PITR

A snapshot schedule automatically takes periodic snapshots of a YSQL database or YCQL keyspace and retains them for a configured duration. Creating a schedule is what enables Rewind to PIT and Clone to PIT for that database or keyspace. You cannot rewind unless you create a schedule first.

Inspect at PIT uses history retention flags and does not require a schedule. Restore to PIT restores a specific snapshot and also does not require a schedule, though a schedule is one way to produce the snapshots you restore.

Create a schedule

To create a schedule, use the create_snapshot_schedule command with the following parameters:

• Interval between snapshots (in minutes).
• Total retention time (in minutes).
• The name of the database or keyspace.

For example, to create a schedule that produces a snapshot of a YSQL database once a day (every 1,440 minutes) and retains it for three days (4,320 minutes), execute the following command:

./bin/yb-admin \
    --master_addresses <ip1:7100,ip2:7100,ip3:7100> \
    create_snapshot_schedule 1440 4320 ysql.<database_name>

The equivalent command for a YCQL keyspace is the following:

./bin/yb-admin \
    --master_addresses <ip1:7100,ip2:7100,ip3:7100> \
    create_snapshot_schedule 1440 4320 <keyspace_name>

The following output is a unique ID of the newly created snapshot schedule:

{
  "schedule_id": "6eaaa4fb-397f-41e2-a8fe-a93e0c9f5256"
}

You can use this ID to delete the schedule or rewind to a point in time.

Delete a schedule

To delete a schedule and disable Rewind and Clone for that database or keyspace, use the delete_snapshot_schedule command with the ID of the schedule to delete:

./bin/yb-admin \
    --master_addresses <ip1:7100,ip2:7100,ip3:7100> \
    delete_snapshot_schedule 6eaaa4fb-397f-41e2-a8fe-a93e0c9f5256

List schedules

To see a list of schedules that currently exist in the cluster, use the list_snapshot_schedules command:

./bin/yb-admin \
    --master_addresses <ip1:7100,ip2:7100,ip3:7100> \
    list_snapshot_schedules

{
  "schedules": [
    {
      "id": "6eaaa4fb-397f-41e2-a8fe-a93e0c9f5256",
      "options": {
        "interval": "60.000s",
        "retention": "600.000s"
      },
      "snapshots": [
        {
          "id": "386740da-dc17-4e4a-9a2b-976968b1deb5",
          "snapshot_time_utc": "2021-04-28T13:35:32.499002+0000"
        },
        {
          "id": "aaf562ca-036f-4f96-b193-f0baead372e5",
          "snapshot_time_utc": "2021-04-28T13:36:37.501633+0000",
          "previous_snapshot_time_utc": "2021-04-28T13:35:32.499002+0000"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

You can also use the same command to view information about a particular schedule by providing its ID:

./bin/yb-admin \
    --master_addresses <ip1:7100,ip2:7100,ip3:7100> \
    list_snapshot_schedules 6eaaa4fb-397f-41e2-a8fe-a93e0c9f5256

Configuration details

By default, the history retention period is controlled by the history retention interval flag. This is a cluster-wide global flag that affects every YSQL database and YCQL keyspace, whether or not PITR is enabled.

When a snapshot schedule is configured for a particular database or keyspace, the per-database retention period is the maximum of the global history retention period and the snapshot interval specified for that schedule.

For example, if the global history retention period is 8 hours, but a schedule takes snapshots every 4 hours, then a snapshot taken at time t0 will have all data from (time t0 - 8h to time t0), even if that means two snapshots have overlapping and duplicate copies of the same detailed change data.