Restoring data from one collection or database to another

In this recipe, we will look at how to use the mongorestore utility to restore data from one collection to another.

Getting ready

You need a single-node MongoDB installation, preferably with some data in it. Refer to the Creating an index recipe in Chapter 2, Understanding and Managing Indexes, on how to import sample data into a MongoDB instance.

How to do it...

1. Connect to the MongoDB server via mongo shell, and insert about 1,000 random documents:

for(var x=0; x<1000; x++){ db.mycol.insert({age:(Math.round(Math.random()*100)%20) }) }

2. Immediately switch to a different Terminal, and take the backup:

mongodump --out /backups/dump/

3. You should see output similar to this:

2017-10-06T08:02:38.082+0000 writing admin.system.version to
2017-10-06T08:02:38.083+0000 done dumping admin.system.version (1 document)
2017-10-06T08:02:38.083+0000 writing mydb.mockdata to
2017-10-06T08:02:38.084+0000 writing mydb.mycol to
2017-10-06T08:02:38.095+0000 done...