Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB: Backup and Restore Databases using MongoDB Command Line Database Tools

In this post let's see how we can backup and restore databases in an Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB account using MongoDB Command Line Database Tools.

I am using Windows and the first step is to download MongoDB Command Line Database Tools. As of today, the version is 100.6.1 and I have downloaded the zip version. You can even download the msi and install the tools.

Backup

You can run the mongodump.exe from the command prompt providing the connection string of your Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB account, the database you want to backup and an output path to write the backup files to.

mongodump.exe --uri "<connectionString>" --db <databaseName> --out <backupDirectory> 

mongodump.exe

Restore

You can run the mongorestore.exe from the command prompt providing the connection string of your Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB account, a target database name, and the directory containing the backup files of the database.

mongorestore.exe --uri "<connectionString>" --db <databaseName> --dir <backupDirectory\databaseName>

mongorestore.exe

I am yet to confirm whether this approach is recommended, but so far I haven't faced any issues with the restored database. Collections and their documents count look great.

If you want to copy a database from one Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB account to other, you can try this out. I have tried, Copy data to or from Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB using Azure Data Factory or Synapse Analytics, but unfortunately, it didn't work out well due to some issues, hence tried MongoDB Command Line Database Tools.

   Issue: Copy Activity: Copying data from and to Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB: Failing due to incorrect Data Type 
   Issue: Copy Activity: Copying data from and to Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB: "The retrieved type of data JObject is not supported yet"

Hope this helps. 

Please don't forget to leave a comment on whether this approach worked for you or not.

Happy Coding.

Regards,
Jaliya

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Update on 2023/02/08:

I have received some recommendations from Product Group: Azure Cosmos DB.

• Native MongoDB tools would be recommended for smaller workloads
• Azure Data Factory (ADF) for medium (<1TB)
• Spark if it’s a large dataset (>1 TB)