The RethinkDB command line utility allows you to easily take hot backups on a live cluster with the dump and restore subcommands. The utility runs under the admin user account (see Permissions and user accounts).
Use the dump subcommand to create an archive of data from the cluster. This creates a tar.gz file consisting of JSON documents and additional table metadata.
rethinkdb dump [options]
Options to dump let you specify cluster information and limit the archive to specific databases or tables.
-c, --connect: host and client port of the node to connect to (default: localhost:28015)-f, --file: specify a filename for the archive (default: rethinkdb_dump_<date>_<time>.tar.gz)-e, --export: limit the dump to the given database or table (specified as database.table); may be specified multiple times for multiple databases/tables-p, --password: prompt for the admin password, if one has been set--password-file: read the admin password from a plain text file--tls-cert: specify a path to a TLS certificate to allow encrypted connections to the server (see Securing the cluster)--clients: number of tables to export simultaneously (default: 3)--temp-dir: directory to use for intermediary results-h, --help: print helpSince the backup process uses client drivers, it takes advantage of RethinkDB’s concurrency. While it will use some cluster resources, it won’t lock out any clients, and it can be safely run on a live cluster.
rethinkdb dump -c fortress:39500
Connect to the cluster at host fortress with a client port at 39500, saving to the default archive name.
rethinkdb dump -e league.users -f backup.tar.gz --password-file pw.txt
Connect to the default cluster (localhost:28015) and archive the users table from the league database in backup.tar.gz. Read the admin user password from the file pw.txt.
Note: The dump command saves database and table contents and metadata, but does not save cluster configuration data.
The restore subcommand has most of the the same options and defaults as the dump command, although there are a few extra commands for controlling how data is imported.
rethinkdb restore filename
(You must specify the archive to restore from; there is no default.)
-c, --connect: host and client port of the node to connect to (default: localhost:28015)-p, --password: prompt for the admin password, if one has been set--password-file: read the admin password from a plain text file--tls-cert: specify a path to a TLS certificate to allow encrypted connections to the server (see Securing the cluster)-i, --import: limit the restore to the given database or table (specified as database.table); may be specified multiple times for multiple databases/tables--clients: number of client connections to use (default: 8)--temp-dir: directory to use for intermediary results--hard-durability: use hard durability writes (slower, but less memory consumption on the server)--force: import data even if a table already exists--no-secondary-indexes: do not create secondary indexes for the restored tables-h, --help: print helpNote: rethinkdb restore may not work for restoring backups made with later versions of RethinkDB to servers running earlier versions. For example, you cannot restore a backup made on RethinkDB 2.2 to a server running RethinkDB 2.1.
If you need to do this, you can try passing the --no-secondary-indexes flag to restore as a workaround. This will usually allow restores to work on older versions, although this is not guaranteed.
rethinkdb restore rethinkdb_dump_2015-09-17T10:59:58.tar.gz
Restore to the default cluster (localhost:28015).
rethinkdb restore backup.tar.gz -c fortress:39500
Restore backup.tar.gz to the cluster running on fortress at port 39500.
rethinkdb restore backup.tar.gz -i league.users --password-file pw.txt
Restore to the default cluster, only importing the table users to the database league from the archive backup.tar.gz. Read the admin user password from the file pw.txt. (This should be a plain text file with the password on the first and only line.)