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How to back up & restore a MongoDB database

File formats​

MongoDB uses the mongodump tool to export databases. This can export to the following formats:

  • BSON (Default for data)
  • JSON (Default for collection metadata)
  • CSV (specify with --type csv)
  • TSV (specify with --type tsv)

BSON is the recommended database export format.

Exporting all databases​

To export all databases, cd to a directory path of your choosing, and run the following command:

mongodump

This will automatically create a /dump folder in that location. Alternatively, specify a folder path with the following command:

mongodump --out /your/file/path

Exporting a single database​

To export a single database, cd to a directory path of your choosing, and run the following command:

mongodump --db=yourdb

Exporting from a remote host​

You can use the mongodump utility to connect to a remote instance using the below syntax:

mongodump --host="mongodb.yourdomain.com:27017" <your other dump requirements>

Restoring a MongoDB database​

warning

If requesting a database restore from ANS Support, please provide the directory for your database dumps. Without this, only /var/lib/mongodb would be restored.

To restore from a database backup you will need to use the mongorestore command. To import a dump, you just need to specify the location of the restore folder, for example:

mongorestore dump/

This will create the database and collections specified within the dump data.

To import a specific collection from this dump, you would use the following syntax:

mongorestore --nsInclude=testdb.orders /dump

Restoring from JSON​

Though not recommended, if your dump is in JSON v2.0 format you can use the mongoimport command to import your database:

mongoimport --db yourdb --file /path/to/database/dump.json

If using JSON v1.0, you should use the above with the addition of the --legacy flag.

Restoring to a remote host​

You can use the mongorestore utility to connect to a remote instance using the below syntax:

mongorestore --host="mongodb.yourdomain.com:27017" <your other import requirements>