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mongodumpandmongorestoreto Backup and Restore MongoDB Databases
Use mongodump and mongorestore to Backup and Restore MongoDB Databases¶
This document describes the process for writing the entire contents of your MongoDB instance to a file in a binary format. If disk-level snapshots are not available, this approach provides the best option for full system database backups. If your system has disk level snapshot capabilities, consider the backup methods described in Use Filesystem Snapshots to Backup and Restore MongoDB Databases.
Backup a Database with mongodump¶
Basic mongodump Operations¶
The mongodump utility can back up data by either:
- connecting to a running
mongodormongosinstance, or - accessing data files without an active instance.
The utility can create a backup for an entire server, database or collection, or can use a query to backup just part of a collection.
When you run mongodump without any arguments, the command
connects to the local database instance (e.g. 127.0.0.1 or
localhost) on port 27017 and creates a database backup named
dump/ in the current directory.
To backup data from a mongod or mongos instance
running on the same machine and on the default port of 27017
use the following command:
Note
Data created by the mongodump tool from the
2.2 distribution is incompatible with versions of
mongorestore from the 2.0 distribution and earlier.
To limit the amount of data included in the database dump, you can
specify --db and
--collection as options to the
mongodump command. For example:
mongodump will write BSON files that hold a copy of
data accessible via the mongod listening on port 27017 of
the mongodb.example.net host.
This command creates a dump of the collection named collection
from the database test in a dump/ subdirectory of the current
working directory.
Point in Time Operation Using Oplogs¶
Use the --oplog option with
mongodump to collect the oplog entries to build a
point-in-time snapshot of a database within a replica set. With --oplog, mongodump copies all the data from
the source database as well as all of the oplog entries from
the beginning of the backup procedure to until the backup procedure
completes. This backup procedure, in conjunction with
mongorestore --oplogReplay,
allows you to restore a backup that reflects a consistent and specific
moment in time.
Create Backups Without a Running mongod Instance¶
If your MongoDB instance is not running, you can use the
--dbpath option to specify the
location to your MongoDB instance’s database files. mongodump
reads from the data files directly with this operation. This
locks the data directory to prevent conflicting writes. The
mongod process must not be running or attached to these
data files when you run mongodump in this
configuration. Consider the following example:
Create Backups from Non-Local mongod Instances¶
The --host and
--port options for
mongodump allow you to connect to and backup from a remote host.
Consider the following example:
On any mongodump command you may, as above, specify username
and password credentials to specify database authentication.
Restore a Database with mongorestore¶
The mongorestore utility restores a binary backup created by
mongodump. By default, mongorestore looks for a
database backup in the dump/ directory.
The mongorestore utility can restore data either by:
- connecting to a running
mongodormongosdirectly, or - writing to a local database path without use of a running
mongod.
The mongorestore utility can restore either an entire
database backup or a subset of the backup.
A mongorestore command that connects to an active
mongod or mongos has the following prototype form:
A mongorestore command that writes to data files
without using a running mongod has the following prototype
form:
Consider the following example:
Here, mongorestore imports the database backup in
the dump-2012-10-25 directory to the mongod instance
running on the localhost interface.
Restore Point in Time Oplog Backup¶
If you created your database dump using the --oplog option to ensure a point-in-time snapshot, call
mongorestore with the
--oplogReplay
option, as in the following example:
You may also consider using the mongorestore --objcheck
option to check the integrity of objects while inserting them into the
database, or you may consider the mongorestore --drop option to drop each
collection from the database before restoring from
backups.
Restore a Subset of data from a Binary Database Dump¶
mongorestore also includes the ability to a filter
to all input before inserting it into the new database. Consider the
following example:
Here, mongorestore only adds documents to the database from
the dump located in the dump/ folder if the documents have a
field name field that holds a value of 1. Enclose the
filter in single quotes (e.g. ') to prevent the filter from
interacting with your shell environment.
Restore without a Running mongod¶
mongorestore can write data to MongoDB data files without
needing to connect to a mongod directly.
Here, mongorestore restores the database dump located in
dump/ folder into the data files located at /srv/mongodb.
Additionally, the --journal option ensures that
mongorestore records all operation in the durability
journal. The journal prevents data file corruption if anything
(e.g. power failure, disk failure, etc.) interrupts the restore
operation.
See also
mongodump and mongorestore.
Restore Backups to Non-Local mongod Instances¶
By default, mongorestore connects to a MongoDB instance
running on the localhost interface (e.g. 127.0.0.1) and on the
default port (27017). If you want to restore to a different host or
port, use the --host and --port options.
Consider the following example:
As above, you may specify username and password connections if your
mongod requires authentication.