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MongoDB Cluster-to-Cluster Sync

About mongosync

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  • Details
  • Connect Source and Destination Clusters
  • Start Sync
  • Pause Sync
  • Finalize Sync
  • Reverse Sync
  • Learn More

The mongosync binary is the primary process used in Cluster-to-Cluster Sync. mongosync migrates data from a source cluster to a destination cluster and keeps the clusters in continuous sync until you finalize the sync.

You can use mongosync to create dedicated analytics, development, or testing clusters that mirror your production environment.

mongosync keeps track of its current actions through states. mongosync enters different states depending on the requests it receives. The current mongosync state determines which API operations you can run.

Note

Most state transitions happen as the result of an API call. The exceptions are:

  • The transition from COMMITTING to COMMITTED. For more information, see Finalizing Sync.

  • The transition from REVERSING to RUNNING. For more information, see Reversing Sync.

To view the current state of mongosync, use the /progress endpoint.

The following diagram illustrates the relationship between mongosync states and API operations:

Diagram of relationship between ``mongosync`` states and API operations
click to enlarge

You must create an initial connection to the source and destination clusters before mongosync can start to sync data. For more information, see Connecting mongosync.

When mongosync connects to the source and destination clusters, the synchronization process enters the IDLE state.

To start the synchronization process, call the start endpoint.

The start endpoint begins the RUNNING state, which is when mongosync syncs data from the source cluster to the destination cluster. If you make subsequent writes to the source cluster, mongosync applies the operations to the destination cluster.

For every source collection that syncs, mongosync creates a corresponding collection on the destination.

mongosync temporarily alters some of the replicated collection characteristics in the destination cluster. It changes these destination cluster characteristics back to the source cluster characteristics during the COMMIT state. For more information, see Collection Characteristic Changes.

The RUNNING state includes two phases:

During the collection copy phase, mongosync executes the initial data transfer from the source cluster to the destination cluster. mongosync performs this data transfer by splitting the source collections into partitions and copying the partitions to their corresponding destination collections.

The change event application (CEA) phase starts after the collection copy phase ends.

During the CEA phase, mongosync continuously updates the destination cluster when you make changes to the source cluster.

To make continuous updates to the destination cluster, mongosync opens a change stream on the source cluster and applies the change events it receives to the destination cluster.

When the CEA phase begins, mongosync applies the change events that are received during the collection copy phase before processing the events that are received during the CEA phase.

To pause the sync process and enter the PAUSED state, call the pause endpoint.

To resume a paused sync process and return mongosync to the RUNNING state, call the resume endpoint.

To finalize the sync between the source and destination clusters, call the commit endpoint.

The commit endpoint starts the COMMITTING state, which is when mongosync stops continuous sync between the source and destination clusters.

When the COMMITTING state begins, mongosync retrieves the commit timestamp, which is the time of the most recent operation on the source cluster.

If there are no errors, mongosync sends a success message and exits CEA by processing events up until the commit timestamp. mongosync also restores collection characteristics that mongosync temporarily alters during synchronization.

When the above process is completed, mongosync enters the COMMITTED state. The COMMITTED state indicates that the cutover process is finished.

To reverse the direction of a committed sync operation, call the reverse endpoint.

The reverse endpoint starts the REVERSING state. mongosync swaps the source and destination clusters and resumes applying change events.

If the reverse sync is successful, mongosync enters the RUNNING state. The synchronization continues in the reverse direction from the original sync job.

To learn more about mongosync, see:

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