@Rocky How often should data backups be performed?

The frequency of data backups in StarRocks depends on your specific Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and data change rate. While StarRocks does not mandate a specific schedule, the following best practices and considerations should guide your strategy: 1. General Frequency Guidelines * Mission-Critical Data: Daily backups are common for active tables. * Large Fact Tables: For tables with heavy data volume, StarRocks recommends partition-level backups. Instead of backing up the full table every time, you should back up only new or updated partitions on a regular (daily) basis. * Slow-Moving Reference Data: Weekly or monthly backups may be sufficient for static dimension tables. 2. Strategic Recommendations * Incremental Approach: Use a partitioning plan for your tables. By backing up only the latest partitions, you reduce the time, storage, and resource impact of the backup job. * Off-Peak Scheduling: Since

BACKUP

and

RESTORE

jobs are resource-intensive, perform them during low-load windows to avoid impacting query performance. * Automation: StarRocks does not have a built-in scheduler. You should use external tools like cron, Airflow, or the community-developed

starrocks-backup-and-restore

tool to automate your backup frequency. 3. Key Constraints to Consider * One Job at a Time: Only one

BACKUP

or

RESTORE

job can run per database at any given time. This limits how frequently you can trigger overlapping backups. * Shared-Data Architecture: Native

BACKUP

and

RESTORE

commands are not supported for shared-data clusters. For these environments, look into cloud-native storage snapshots (e.g., S3/OSS snapshots). * Replica Strategy: Ensure you are using 3 replicas for production data. While backups protect against catastrophic failure or human error (like

DROP TABLE

), StarRocks’ internal replication handles routine node failures. Summary Checklist for Your Frequency Factor | Backup Frequency Recommendation High RPO (Minutes) | Frequent partition-level backups (hourly/daily). High Change Rate | Daily backups of the most recent partitions. Large Data Volume | Avoid full table backups; use partition-level backups. Static Data | Weekly or after significant manual updates. For detailed syntax and setup, refer to the StarRocks Backup and Restore Guide. References • administration/management/Backup_and_restore.md • faq/Exporting_faq.md • sql-reference/sql-statements/backup_restore/BACKUP.md