How to Back Up and Restore a Set of Collections in MongoDB Atlas

MongoDB Atlas offers several methods for backing up and restoring collections, depending on your cluster tier and specific requirements. Here are the main approaches:

Method 1: Using mongodump and mongorestore (Command Line Tools)

For Backup:

• Use mongodump with the –collection option to specify individual collections
• Include the –db parameter to specify the database
• Example: mongodump –host <connection-string> –db <database-name> –collection <collection-name>

For Restore:

• Use mongorestore with the –collection option to restore specific collections from backup files
• Example: mongorestore –host <connection-string> –db <database-name> –collection <collection-name> <backup-file-path>

This method is particularly useful for M0 clusters where Cloud Backups are not available.

Method 2: MongoDB Atlas Cloud Backups

Atlas provides fully managed and customizable backups using native snapshot capabilities of your cloud provider. These create full-copy snapshots with localized snapshot storage.

Key Features:

• Available for M10+ dedicated clusters
• Restores Atlas Search index definitions from Cloud Backup snapshots
• Supports both scheduled and on-demand snapshots

Note: Cloud Backups are primarily designed for full cluster recovery rather than individual collection restoration.

Method 3: MongoDB Compass (GUI Tool)

For Export:

• Use MongoDB Compass to export data from specific collections into JSON or CSV files
• Supports both JSON and CSV formats for flexible data handling

For Import:

• Import data from JSON or CSV files into existing or new collections
• Provides a user-friendly interface for collection-level operations

Method 4: mongoexport and mongoimport

For Export:

• mongoexport produces JSON or CSV exports of data from specific collections
• Run from the system command line for automated workflows

For Import:

• Use mongoimport to restore the exported data into MongoDB collections
• Supports the same JSON and CSV formats as mongoexport

Key Considerations

• M0 Cluster Limitations: Free tier clusters cannot use Cloud Backups and must rely on manual backup tools like mongodump and mongorestore
• Collection-Specific Control: Command-line tools (mongodump/mongorestore or mongoexport/mongoimport) provide more precise control for individual collection operations
• Data Format Differences: mongodump creates BSON files (binary format), while mongoexport and Compass work with human-readable JSON or CSV formats
• Atlas Migration Tools: Atlas also provides import capabilities for existing MongoDB deployments, JSON, or CSV files using live migration or self-guided tools

Choose the method that best fits your cluster tier, technical requirements, and whether you need full cluster or collection-specific backup and restore capabilities.

Further Reading

• Indexing Materialized Views in PostgreSQL
• Extracting and Substituting Text with Regular Expressions in PostgreSQL
• PostgreSQL 18: Accelerating Disk Reads with Asynchronous I/O
• Strategic Shift from Oracle to PostgreSQL
• Cassandra Consistency Level Guide: Mastering Data Consistency in Distributed Systems