sh.startBalancer()

Definition

sh.startBalancer(timeout, interval)

Changed in version 4.2.

Starts the balancer in a sharded cluster. Starting in MongoDB 4.2, sh.startBalancer() also enables auto-splitting for the sharded cluster.

Important

mongosh Method

This page documents a mongosh method. This is not the documentation for database commands or language-specific drivers, such as Node.js.

For the database command, see the balancerStart command.

For MongoDB API drivers, refer to the language-specific MongoDB driver documentation.

The method can take the following options:

Parameter	Type	Description
timeout	integer	Optional. Time limit for enabling the balancer. Defaults to 60000 milliseconds. Changed in version 3.4: If using the 3.4 mongo shell with earlier version sharded clusters, the parameter specifies the amount of time to wait for the balancing round to start.
interval	integer	Optional. The frequency (in milliseconds) at which to check if a balancing round has started. Changed in version 3.4: Only applicable when using version 3.4 mongo shell with earlier version sharded clusters.s

You can only run sh.startBalancer() on a mongos instance. sh.startBalancer() errors if run on mongod instance.

Compatibility

This method is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

• MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

• MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB

• MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

Behavior

Starting in MongoDB 3.4, the mongo shell method sh.startBalancer() is a wrapper around the balancerStart command. As such, the method does not wait for balancing to start.

In earlier versions, the method waited for the balancing to start.