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Doc: note gpbackup one-second timestamp limit - #404

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tuhaihe:docs/gpbackup-timestamp-note

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@tuhaihe

@tuhaihe tuhaihe commented Sep 28, 2026

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What

Document that gpbackup cannot start more than one backup within the same second.

  • sys-utilities/gpbackup.md: add a paragraph in the Description section explaining the one-second timestamp granularity, the resulting error message, and how to avoid it.
  • sys-admin/backup-and-restore/perform-full-backup-and-restore.md: add a tip under "Filter by schema" for scripts that back up schemas one by one.

Both docs/ and versioned_docs/version-2.x/ are updated.

Why

The backup timestamp (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS) is the unique backup ID and also names the backup directory and lock file. When a script runs gpbackup repeatedly and two runs start in the same second, the later one fails with:

[CRITICAL]:-A backup with timestamp ... is already in progress. Wait 1 second and try the backup again.

This is an architectural limitation rather than a bug, as discussed in apache/cloudberry#1714.

See: apache/cloudberry#1714

The gpbackup timestamp (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS) is the unique backup ID and
has one-second granularity. It also names the backup directory and
lock file, so a second gpbackup started within the same second fails
with "A backup with timestamp ... is already in progress. Wait 1
second and try the backup again." This often happens when scripts
back up schemas one by one.

Document this limitation in the gpbackup reference and add a tip to
the full backup guide. Suggest adding a delay between runs, or backing
up multiple schemas or tables in a single gpbackup command. Both docs/
and versioned_docs/version-2.x/ are updated.

See: apache/cloudberry#1714

Assisted-by: Claude Code
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