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PostgreSQL Glossary

Clone (Database Clone)

A writable copy of a database or cluster, often created instantly using storage-level snapshots or COW. Example: Create a clone from last night's backup t…

Definition

A writable copy of a database or cluster, often created instantly using storage-level snapshots or COW.

What Clone (Database Clone) Means in PostgreSQL

A writable copy of a database or cluster, often created instantly using storage-level snapshots or COW.

Clone (Database Clone) appears frequently in production operations, architecture decisions, and troubleshooting workflows. Understanding this term helps teams reason about reliability, performance, and safe change management.

Why Clone (Database Clone) Matters

Teams that understand Clone (Database Clone) can make better decisions on database design, incident response, and release safety.

In modern PostgreSQL environments, this concept often connects directly to backup strategy, performance tuning, and operational confidence.

  • Improves decision quality for production operations
  • Reduces avoidable troubleshooting time
  • Strengthens reliability and recovery planning

Practical Example

Create a clone from last night's backup to test migrations without touching production.

Where To Learn More

You can explore deeper implementation patterns in the Vela articles library, review platform workflows in How Vela Works, and compare approaches in our PostgreSQL comparisons.

Related Glossary Topics

Copy-on-Write (COW) Connection Pooling Checkpoint ACID Atomicity Archiving (WAL Archiving) archive_command archive_mode

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Clone (Database Clone) in PostgreSQL?
A writable copy of a database or cluster, often created instantly using storage-level snapshots or COW.
Why is Clone (Database Clone) important?
Clone (Database Clone) matters because it directly affects how teams build, operate, and recover PostgreSQL systems in production.
Can you give a practical Clone (Database Clone) example?
Create a clone from last night's backup to test migrations without touching production.
How does Clone (Database Clone) relate to backup, recovery, or performance?
In most production deployments, Clone (Database Clone) influences one or more of these areas: data safety, restore behavior, and performance under load.
What should teams check first when implementing Clone (Database Clone)?
Start with clear operational goals, test in a non-production environment, and validate behavior with repeatable runbooks before relying on it in production.