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.TH "BARMAN-KEEP" "1" "May 19, 2026" "3.19" "Barman"
.SH NAME
barman-keep \- Barman Sub-Commands
.SH SYNOPSIS
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
keep
    [ { \-h | \-\-help } ]
    { { \-r | \-\-release } | { \-s | \-\-status } | \-\-target { full | standalone } }
    SERVER_NAME BACKUP_ID
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
Mark the specified backup with a \fBtarget\fP as an archival backup to be retained
indefinitely, overriding any active retention policies. You can also check the keep
\fBstatus\fP of a backup and \fBrelease\fP the keep mark from a backup. You can use a
shortcut instead of \fBBACKUP_ID\fP\&.
.sp
\fBNote:\fP
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
Incremental backups are not eligible for the \fBkeep\fP command. This restriction exists
because incremental backups rely on their parent backups and cannot be used on their
own for recovery. Keeping an incremental without its base would serve no purpose, as
it is unusable independently.
.sp
If you attempt to apply keep to an incremental backup, Barman will return an error
indicating that incremental backups cannot be kept.
.sp
\fBOnly the full base backup —the one that starts the backup chain— can be marked with
keep.\fP
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH PARAMETERS
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B \fBSERVER_NAME\fP
Name of the server in barman node
.TP
.B \fBBACKUP_ID\fP
Id of the backup in barman catalog.
.TP
.B \fB\-h\fP / \fB\-\-help\fP
Show a help message and exit. Provides information about command usage.
.TP
.B \fB\-r\fP / \fB\-\-release\fP
Release the keep mark from this backup. This will remove its archival status and
make it available for deletion, either directly or by retention policy.
.TP
.B \fB\-s\fP / \fB\-\-status\fP
Report the archival status of the backup. The status will be either \fBfull\fP or
\fBstandalone\fP for archival backups, or \fBnokeep\fP for backups that have not been
designated as archival.
.TP
.B \fB\-\-target\fP
Define the recovery target for the archival backup. The possible values are:
.INDENT 7.0
.IP \(bu 2
\fBfull\fP: The backup can be used to recover to the most recent point in time. To
support this, Barman will keep all necessary WALs to maintain the backup\(aqs
consistency as well as any subsequent WALs.
.IP \(bu 2
\fBstandalone\fP: The backup can only be used to restore the server to its state at the
time of the backup. Barman will retain only the WALs required to ensure the
backup\(aqs consistency.
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH SHORTCUTS
.sp
Use shortcuts instead of \fBBACKUP_ID\fP\&.
.TS
box center;
l|l.
T{
\fBShortcut\fP
T}	T{
\fBDescription\fP
T}
_
T{
\fBfirst/oldest\fP
T}	T{
Oldest available backup for the server, in chronological order.
T}
_
T{
\fBlast/latest\fP
T}	T{
Most recent available backup for the server, in chronological order.
T}
_
T{
\fBlast\-full/latest\-full\fP
T}	T{
Most recent full backup taken with methods \fBrsync\fP or \fBpostgres\fP\&.
T}
_
T{
\fBlast\-failed\fP
T}	T{
Most recent backup that failed, in chronological order.
T}
.TE
.SH Author
EnterpriseDB
.SH Copyright
© Copyright EnterpriseDB UK Limited 2011-2025
.\" End of generated man page.