BACKUP

The BACKUP statement creates a backup of tables in a backup collection.

BACKUP collection_name [INCREMENTAL];

Parameters

• collection_name — name of the backup collection.
• INCREMENTAL — create an incremental backup instead of a full backup.

Backup types

Full backup

A full backup creates a snapshot of all tables in the collection at a specific point in time. This serves as the baseline for subsequent incremental backups.

BACKUP production_backups;

Incremental backup

An incremental backup captures only the changes (inserts, updates, deletes) since the previous backup in the chain. The collection must have been created with INCREMENTAL_BACKUP_ENABLED = 'true'.

BACKUP production_backups INCREMENTAL;

Examples

Creating an initial full backup:

-- First, create a collection
CREATE BACKUP COLLECTION daily_backups (
    TABLE orders
) WITH (
    STORAGE = 'cluster',
    INCREMENTAL_BACKUP_ENABLED = 'true'
);

-- Then create the full backup
BACKUP daily_backups;

Creating incremental backups:

-- After the initial full backup, create incremental backups
BACKUP daily_backups INCREMENTAL;

Monitoring backup operations

Backup operations run asynchronously in the background. You can monitor their progress using YDB CLI:

# List backup operations
ydb operation list incbackup

# Get operation details
ydb operation get <operation-id>

See also

• Backup collections.
• CREATE BACKUP COLLECTION.
• RESTORE.
• DROP BACKUP COLLECTION.
• Backup and recovery guide.