Backup and restore

Back up your entire cluster periodically to minimize data inconsistency when a restore is required.

Backing up your data should be a regular process on your cluster to ensure that you do not lose information in the event of a serious hardware or installation failure.

There are a number of methods for performing a backup:

Using cbbackup: The cbbackup command enables you to back up a single node, single buckets, or the entire cluster into a flexible backup structure, which can restore the data into the same, or different, clusters and buckets. All backups can be performed on a live cluster or node. The command cbbackup is the most flexible and recommended backup tool.
Using file copies: A running or offline cluster can be backed up by copying the files on each node. With this method, you can only restore to a cluster with the identical configuration.

Due to the active nature of Couchbase Server, it is impossible to create a complete in-time backup and snapshot of the entire cluster. Because the data is always being updated and modified, it is impossible to take an accurate snapshot.

You must back up and restore your entire cluster to minimize any data inconsistencies. Couchbase is always per-item consistent but does not guarantee total cluster consistency or in-order persistence.