Hey there! We've found the following might help you get unblocked faster:

• 🧵 Geting error in Posgress S3 backup repo

• 🧵 Native database backups for popular databases

• 🧵 Can't Add Postgres S3 Backup Template (submit button disabled)

• 🧵 backup postgres s3

If you find the answer from one of these, please let us know by solving the thread!

This error usually happens when S3 bucket config is malformed, most often from a region mismatch or wrong endpoint/bucket name. On Railway, double-check that your AWS_REGION exactly matches the region of your bucket, and that S3_BUCKET contains only the plain bucket name (all lowercase, no slashes or special characters).

If you’re using a non-AWS provider (like DigitalOcean, Wasabi, etc.), make sure S3_ENDPOINT is just the base URL (e.g. https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com) without adding the bucket name. Fixing the region/endpoint alignment almost always resolves the MalformedXML backup error.

Hello, I have confirmed that the variables are OK, since the bucket name is in format: "xxx-xxx-xxx", same as the region. I'm not using any non-AWS provider either. What else it could be? I could share an example of the variables I'm using

What tool are you using for upload backups to S3?

I think the best way to help would be for you to share a repository with a minimal reproduction so we can try it out

I'm using the railway template: https://github.com/railwayapp-templates/postgres-s3-backups.git

Please do share an example of the variables you're using

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="ACCESSKEYID" AWS_S3_BUCKET="example-bucket" AWS_S3_REGION="us-east-1" AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="SECRETACCESSKEY" BACKUP_CRON_SCHEDULE="0 5 * * *" BACKUP_DATABASE_URL="${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}" SUPPORT_OBJECT_LOCK="true" RUN_ON_STARTUP="true"

Hey, which Postgres version are you trying to backup? You may have to specify additional / change service variables if you are backing up Postgres 17. https://github.com/railwayapp-templates/postgres-s3-backups/blob/main/README.md

If you are not using AWS, I'd suggest using a custom AWS_S3_ENDPOINT and setting the AWS_S3_REGION=auto

But I'm using AWS directly, or are you suggesting should I use a non-AWS provider?

No, sorry, I misread a part of the conversation

Can you try running it with SUPPORT_OBJECT_LOCK="false" ?

Sorry for the back and forth, I'm running this myself trying to reproduce.

Finally got to reproduce it, I'll continue to debug to see if I can find the root cause

Great! I'll be looking forward to any feedback, thank you so much for the support. I tried with the support_object_lock=false but didn't work either, the same with the "auto" region. I'm using this version of postgres so the variable changes suggested by uxuz didn't solve the problem.

I forked the template and upgrading the version of the AWS SDK made it work. The current SDK version is pretty outdated and likely has issues.

I’ll open an issue on the template repo so it can get fixed

Nice! how did you do the upgrade after forking?, thanks a lot for your help.

Just updated the package.json to a more updated version (could be latest 3.901.0) and run npm i. Push the changes.

Thank you so much, it works now. Have a great day!

I have also merged a PR to update the SDK on the template's GitHub repo.

https://github.com/railwayapp-templates/postgres-s3-backups/pull/38