nodetool snapshot

Creates a backup by taking a snapshot of table data. A snapshot is a hardlink to the SSTable files in the data directory for a schema table at the moment the snapshot is executed. Before upgrading DataStax Enterprise (DSE), be sure to create a backup of all keyspaces. For more information, see Taking a snapshot.

Always run nodetool cleanup before taking a snapshot for restore. Otherwise invalid replicas (replicas that have been superseded by new, valid replicas on newly added nodes) can get copied to the target when they should not. This results in old data showing up on the target.

The snapshot directory path is: data/<keyspace_name>/<table-UUID>/snapshots/<snapshot_name>. Data is backed up into multiple .db files and table schema is saved to schema.cql. The schema.cql file captures the structure of the table at the time of snapshot. Restoring the snapshot requires the table to have the same structure. See Manual Backup and Restore with Point-in-time and table-level restore.

Synopsis

nodetool [<connection_options>] snapshot
[--table <table_name> | -kt keyspace_name.table_name,...]
[-sf] [-t <snapshotname>] [--]
[<keyspace_name> [<keyspace_name>...]]
Syntax legend
Syntax conventions Description

Italic, bold, or < >

Syntax diagrams and code samples use one or more of these styles to mark placeholders for variable values. Replace placeholders with a valid option or your own user-defined value.

In CQL statements, angle brackets are required to enclose data types in a set, list, map, or tuple. Separate the data types with a comma. For example: <datatype2

In Search CQL statements, angle brackets are used to identify the entity and literal value to overwrite the XML element in the schema and solrconfig files, such as @<xml_entity>='<xml_entity_type>'.

[ ]

Square brackets surround optional command arguments. Do not type the square brackets.

( )

Parentheses identify a group to choose from. Do not type the parentheses.

|

A pipe separates alternative elements. Type any one of the elements. Do not type the pipe.

...

Indicates that you can repeat the syntax element as often as required.

'

Single quotation marks must surround literal strings in CQL statements. Use single quotation marks to preserve upper case. + For Search CQL only: Single quotation marks surround an entire XML schema declaration, such as '<<schema> ... </schema>>'

{ }

Map collection. Curly braces enclose maps ({ <key_datatype>:<value_datatype> }) or key value pairs ({ <key>:<value> }). A colon separates the key and the value.

;

Ends a CQL statement.

--

Separate command line options from command arguments with two hyphens. This syntax is useful when arguments might be mistaken for command line options.

Options

If an option has a short and long form, both forms are given, separated by a comma.

-h, --host hostname

The hostname or IP address of a remote node or nodes. When omitted, the default is the local machine.

-p, --port jmx_port

The JMX port number.

-pw, --password jmxpassword

The JMX password for authenticating with secure JMX. If a password is not provided, you are prompted to enter one.

-pwf, --password-file jmx_password_filepath

The filepath to the file that stores JMX authentication credentials.

-u, --username jmx_username

The username for authenticating with secure JMX.

--table, -cf, --column-family table_name

Table name in the specified keyspace.

-kt, --kt-list, -kc, --kc.list keyspace_name.table_name,…​

Comma-separated list of keyspace_name.table_name with no spaces after the comma.

Example: cycling.cyclist,basketball.players

-sf, --skip_flush

Do not flush tables before creating the snapshot.

Snapshot will not contain unflushed data.
-t snapshotname, --tag snapshotname

The snapshot filepath. When not specified, the current time is used for the directory name. For example, 1489076973698.

Examples

Take snapshot of all keyspaces on the node

Run nodetool cleanup before taking the snapshot:

nodetool cleanup

Take a snapshot of all keyspaces:

nodetool snapshot

Results include the name of the snapshot directory:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [all keyspaces] with snapshot name [1489076973698] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: 1489076973698

Create tagged snapshot of keyspace

Take tagged snapshot of cycling keyspace in the cycling_2017-3-9 directory:

nodetool snapshot -t cycling_2017-3-9 cycling

Results:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [cycling] with snapshot name [2015.07.17] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: cycling_2017-3-9

The cycling keyspace contains two tables, cyclist_name and upcoming_calendar. The snapshot creates multiple snapshot directories named cycling_2017-3-9. A number of .db files containing the data are located in these directories, along with table schema.

For example, from the DSE installation directory:

ls -1 data/cycling/cyclist_name-9e516080f30811e689e40725f37c761d/snapshots/cycling_2017-3-9
manifest.json
mc-1-big-CompressionInfo.db
mc-1-big-Data.db
mc-1-big-Digest.crc32
mc-1-big-Filter.db
mc-1-big-Index.db
mc-1-big-Statistics.db
mc-1-big-Summary.db
mc-1-big-TOC.txt
schema.cql

Take snapshot of multiple keyspaces

Take snapshot of the mykeyspace and cycling keyspaces:

nodetool snapshot mykeyspace cycling

Results:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [mykeyspace, cycling] with snapshot name [1391460334889] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: 1391460334889

Take snapshot of single table

Take a snapshot of the cyclist_name table in the cycling keyspace:

nodetool snapshot --table cyclist_name cycling

Results:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [cycling] with snapshot name [1391461910600] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: 1391461910600

The resulting snapshot directory 1391461910600 contains data files and the schema of cyclist_name table in data/cycling/cyclist_name-a882dca02aaf11e58c7b8b496c707234/snapshots.

Take snapshot of multiple tables in different keyspaces

Take a snapshot the cyclist_name table in the cycling keyspace and the sample_times table in the test keyspace:

nodetool snapshot -kt cycling.cyclist_name,test.sample_times

Results:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [cycling.cyclist_name,test.sample_times] with snapshot name [1431045288401] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: 1431045288401

Create snapshot of keyspace without flushing tables

Take snapshot of cycling keyspace with -sf option:

nodetool snapshot cycling -sf

Results:

Requested creating snapshot(s) for [cycling.cyclist_name,test.sample_times] with snapshot name [1431045288401] and options {skipFlush=false}
Snapshot directory: 1431045288401

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