Skip to content

PBM control collections

The config and state (current and historical) for backups is stored in collections in the MongoDB cluster or non-sharded replica set itself. These are put in the system admin db to keep them cleanly separated from user db namespaces.

In sharded clusters, this is the admin db of the config server replica set. In a non-sharded replica set, the PBM control collections are stored in admin db of the replica set itself.

  • admin.pbmBackups - Log / status of each backup.
  • admin.pbmAgents - Contains information about pbm-agents statuses and health.
  • admin.pbmConfig - Contains configuration information for Percona Backup for MongoDB.
  • admin.pbmCmd - Is used to define and trigger operations.
  • admin.pbmLock - pbm-agent synchronization-lock structure.
  • admin.pbmLockOp - Is used to coordinate operations that are not mutually exclusive such as make backup and delete backup.
  • admin.pbmLog - Stores log information from all pbm-agents in the MongoDB environment. Available in Percona Backup for MongoDB as of version 1.4.0.
  • admin.pbmOpLog - Stores operation IDs.
  • admin.pbmPITRChunks - Stores Point-in-time recovery oplog slices.
  • admin.pbmPITRState - Contains current state of Point-in-time recovery incremental backups.
  • admin.pbmRestores - Contains restore history and the restore state for all replica sets.
  • admin.pbmStatus - Stores Percona Backup for MongoDB status records.

The pbm command line tool creates these collections as needed. You do not have to maintain these collections, but you should not drop them unnecessarily either. Dropping them during a backup will cause an abort of the backup.

Filling the config collection is a prerequisite to using Percona Backup for MongoDB for executing backups or restores. (See config page later.)

Get expert help

If you need assistance, visit the community forum for comprehensive and free database knowledge, or contact our Percona Database Experts for professional support and services.


Last update: November 14, 2024
Created: November 14, 2024