plugin-barman-cloud/web/docs/compression.md
Marco Nenciarini e30154b938
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fix: add lz4 compression support for base backups (#868)
Upgrade barman-cloud library to v0.5.1 which includes lz4 support for
base backups. Update CRD schema and manifest to expose lz4 as a valid
compression option, and clarify docs that lz4 is no longer WAL-only.

Closes #867

Signed-off-by: Marco Nenciarini <marco.nenciarini@enterprisedb.com>
Signed-off-by: Leonardo Cecchi <leonardo.cecchi@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Leonardo Cecchi <leonardo.cecchi@gmail.com>
2026-04-21 19:23:45 +02:00

1.9 KiB

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Compression

By default, backups and WAL files are archived uncompressed. However, the Barman Cloud Plugin supports multiple compression algorithms via barman-cloud-backup and barman-cloud-wal-archive, allowing you to optimize for space, speed, or a balance of both.

Supported Compression Algorithms

  • bzip2
  • gzip
  • lz4
  • snappy
  • xz (WAL only)
  • zstd (WAL only)

Compression settings for base backups and WAL archives are configured independently. For implementation details, refer to the corresponding API definitions:

:::important Compression impacts both performance and storage efficiency. Choose the right algorithm based on your recovery time objectives (RTO), storage capacity, and network throughput. :::

Compression Benchmark (on MinIO)

Compression Backup Time (ms) Restore Time (ms) Uncompressed Size (MB) Compressed Size (MB) Ratio
None 10,927 7,553 395 395 1.0:1
bzip2 25,404 13,886 395 67 5.9:1
gzip 116,281 3,077 395 91 4.3:1
snappy 8,134 8,341 395 166 2.4:1

Numbers come from a 2021 Barman proof of concept (EnterpriseDB/barman#344), which predates lz4 support for base backups. lz4 is not yet benchmarked.