Synchronize data from a MongoDB database that uses the replica set architecture to a MongoDB database that uses the replica set or sharded cluster architecture - ApsaraDB for MongoDB

This topic describes how to use Data Transmission Service (DTS) to synchronize data from a MongoDB database that uses the replica set architecture to a MongoDB database that uses the replica set or sharded cluster architecture.

Supported source and destination databases

The following table describes the types of source and destination MongoDB databases that are supported by DTS. In this example, the source database is an ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set instance and the destination database is an ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set or sharded cluster instance. You can also follow the procedure to configure data synchronization tasks for other types of MongoDB databases.

Source database	Destination database
ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set instance	ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set or sharded cluster instance
Self-managed MongoDB database that uses the replica set architecture and is hosted on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance	Self-managed MongoDB database that uses the replica set or sharded cluster architecture and is hosted on an ECS instance
Self-managed MongoDB database that uses the replica set architecture and is connected over Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway	Self-managed MongoDB database that uses the replica set or sharded cluster architecture and is connected over Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway

Prerequisites

The source ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set instance and the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB replica set or sharded cluster instance are created. For more information, see Create a replica set instance and Create a sharded cluster instance.
Note
For more information about the supported database versions, see Overview of data synchronization scenarios.
The available storage space of the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance is 10% larger than the total size of the data in the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance.
If the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance is a sharded cluster instance, databases and collections to be sharded are created, data sharding is configured, the balancer is enabled, and pre-sharding is performed in the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance based on your business requirements. For more information, see Configure sharding to maximize the performance of shards and What do I do if the data of a MongoDB database deployed in the sharded cluster architecture is not evenly distributed?
Note
After you configure sharding for a sharded cluster instance, the synchronized data is distributed among different shards. This maximizes the performance of the sharded cluster. You can also enable the balancer and perform pre-sharding to prevent data skew.

Usage notes

Category	Description
Limits on the source database	Bandwidth requirements: The server to which the source database is deployed must have sufficient outbound bandwidth. Otherwise, the data synchronization speed is affected. The collections to be synchronized must have PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraints and all fields must be unique. Otherwise, the destination database may contain duplicate data records. If you select collections as the objects to be synchronized and you need to edit collections in the destination database, such as renaming collections, up to 1,000 collections can be synchronized in a single data synchronization task. If you run a task to synchronize more than 1,000 collections, a request error occurs. In this case, we recommend that you configure multiple tasks to synchronize the collections in batches, or configure a task to synchronize the entire database. The operation logging feature must be enabled. Note The operation logs of the source database must be retained for at least seven days. Otherwise, DTS may fail to obtain the operation logs and the task may fail. In exceptional circumstances, data inconsistency or loss may occur. Make sure that you set the retention period of operation logs based on the preceding requirements. Otherwise, the service level agreement (SLA) of DTS does not guarantee service reliability or performance. You cannot synchronize collections that contain time to live (TTL) indexes. If the source database contains TTL indexes, data inconsistency may occur between the source and destination databases after the synchronization. Limits on operations to be performed on the source database: During schema synchronization and full data synchronization, do not change the schemas of the databases or collections. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails. If you perform only full data synchronization, do not write data to the source database during data synchronization. Otherwise, data inconsistency occurs between the source and destination databases.
Other limits	If the destination database is a sharded cluster database, take note of the following limits: Orphaned documents must be cleared. Otherwise, the synchronization performance is compromised. During data synchronization, if a `_id` conflict exists in the documents of the source and destination databases, data inconsistency may occur, or the data synchronization task may fail. Before you start the data synchronization task, you must add sharding keys to the data to be synchronized in the source database. If you cannot add sharding keys to the data in the source database, you can synchronize data from a MongoDB database without sharding keys. For more information, see Synchronize data from a MongoDB instance without a sharding key to a MongoDB sharded cluster instance. During the data synchronization, if you execute the INSERT statement to insert data into the data to be synchronized, the data to be synchronized must contain sharding keys. If you execute the UPDATE statement to modify the data to be synchronized, you cannot modify sharding keys. To ensure compatibility, the version of the destination MongoDB database must be the same as or later than the version of the source MongoDB database. If the version of the destination database is earlier than that of the source database, database compatibility issues may occur. DTS cannot synchronize data from the admin or local database. If a collection of the destination database has a unique index or the `capped` attribute of a collection of the destination database is `true`, the collection supports only single-thread data writing and does not support concurrent replay during incremental data synchronization. This may increase synchronization latency. Transaction information is not retained. When transactions are synchronized to the destination database, transactions are converted into a single record. Before you synchronize data, evaluate the impact of data synchronization on the performance of the source and destination databases. We recommend that you synchronize data during off-peak hours. During full data synchronization, DTS uses read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the loads on the database servers. During full data synchronization, concurrent INSERT operations cause fragmentation in the collections of the destination database. After full data synchronization is complete, the storage space for collections of the destination database is larger than that of the source database. Data inconsistency between the source and destination databases occurs if data from other sources is written to the destination database during data synchronization. For example, if you use Data Management (DMS) to execute online DDL statements while data from other sources is written to the destination database, data loss may occur in the destination database. The data is concurrently written to the destination database. Therefore, the storage space occupied in the destination database is 5% to 10% larger than the size of the data in the source database. You must use the `db.$table_name.aggregate([{ $count:"myCount"}])` syntax to query the return value of a count operation on the destination MongoDB database. Make sure that the destination MongoDB database does not have the same primary key as the source database. The default primary key is _id. Otherwise, data may be lost. If the data in the destination database has the same primary key as that in the source database, clear the related data in the destination database without interrupting the services of DTS. For example, if the same primary key is _id, you can delete the data in the destination database that has the same _id as the source database.
Special cases	If the source database is a self-managed MongoDB database, take note of the following limits: If you perform a primary/secondary switchover on the source database when the data synchronization task is running, the task fails. DTS calculates synchronization latency based on the timestamp of the latest synchronized data in the destination database and the current timestamp in the source database. If no update operation is performed on the source database for a long time, the synchronization latency may be inaccurate. If the latency of the synchronization task is excessively high, you can perform an update operation on the source database to update the latency. Note If you select an entire database as the object to be synchronized, you can create a heartbeat table. The heartbeat table is updated or receives data every second.

Billing

Synchronization type	Task configuration fee
Schema synchronization and full data synchronization	Free of charge.
Incremental data synchronization	Charged. For more information, see Billing overview.

Supported synchronization topologies

One-way one-to-one synchronization
One-way one-to-many synchronization
One-way many-to-one synchronization
One-way cascade synchronization

For more information about the synchronization topologies supported by DTS, see Synchronization topologies.

Synchronization types

Synchronization Types	Description
Schema synchronization	DTS synchronizes the schemas of the selected objects from the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance to the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance.
Full data synchronization	DTS synchronizes the historical data of the selected objects from the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance to the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. Note DTS supports full data synchronization for the following types of objects: databases and collections.
Incremental data synchronization	DTS synchronizes incremental data from the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance to the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. Note DTS does not support incremental data synchronization from databases that are created after the task starts to run. DTS synchronizes incremental data generated by the following operations: CREATE COLLECTION and CREATE INDEX DROP DATABASE, DROP COLLECTION, and DROP INDEX RENAME COLLECTION The operations that are performed to insert, update, and delete documents in a collection.

Procedure

Go to the Data Synchronization Tasks page.
1. Log on to the Data Management (DMS) console.
2. In the top navigation bar, click DTS.
3. In the left-side navigation pane, choose DTS (DTS) > Data Synchronization.
Note
- Operations may vary based on the mode and layout of the DMS console. For more information, see Simple mode and Customize the layout and style of the DMS console.
- You can also go to the Data Synchronization Tasks page of the new DTS console.
On the right side of Data Synchronization Tasks, select the region in which the data synchronization instance resides.
Note
If you use the new DTS console, you must select the region in which the data synchronization instance resides in the top navigation bar.

Click Create Task. On the Create Task page, configure the source and destination databases. The following table describes the parameters.

Warning

After you configure the source and destination databases, we recommend that you read the Limits that are displayed on the page. Otherwise, the task may fail or data inconsistency may occur.

Section	Parameter	Description
N/A	Task Name	The name of the DTS task. DTS automatically generates a task name. We recommend that you specify a descriptive name that makes it easy to identify the task. You do not need to specify a unique task name.
Source Database	Select an existing DMS database instance	The database instance that you want to use. You can choose whether to use an existing instance based on your business requirements. If you select an existing instance, DTS automatically populates the parameters for the database. If you do not select an existing instance, you must configure the following database information.
	Database Type	The type of the source database. Select MongoDB.
	Access Method	The access method of the source database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.
	Instance Region	The region where the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance resides.
	Replicate Data Across Alibaba Cloud Accounts	Specifies whether data is synchronized across Alibaba Cloud accounts. In this example, No is selected.
	Architecture	The architecture in which the source database is deployed. Select Replica Set.
	Instance ID	The ID of the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance.
	Authentication Database	The name of the authentication database that stores the database accounts and passwords of the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. If you did not change the name of the authentication database before, the default value admin is used.
	Database Account	The database account of the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. The account must have read permissions on the source database, the config database, the admin database, and the local database.
	Database Password	The password that is used to access the database instance.
	Encryption	Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the source database. Select Non-encrypted or SSL-encrypted based on your business requirements. Note This parameter is valid only if the source ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance is deployed in the Replica Set architecture. If the source database is a self-managed ApsaraDB for MongoDB Replica Set instance and Encryption is set to SSL-encrypted, you can upload a certification authority (CA) certificate to verify the connection to the source database.
Destination Database	Select an existing DMS database instance	The database instance that you want to use. You can choose whether to use an existing instance based on your business requirements. If you select an existing instance, DTS automatically populates the parameters for the database. If you do not select an existing instance, you must configure the following database information.
	Database Type	The type of the destination database. Select MongoDB.
	Access Method	The access method of the destination database. Select Alibaba Cloud Instance.
	Instance Region	The region where the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance resides.
	Architecture	The architecture in which the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance is deployed.
	Instance ID	The ID of the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance.
	Authentication Database	The name of the authentication database that stores the database accounts and passwords of the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. If you did not change the name of the authentication database before, the default value admin is used.
	Database Account	The database account of the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance. The account must have the dbAdminAnyDatabase permission, the read and write permissions on the destination database, and the read permissions on the local database.
	Database Password	The password that is used to access the database instance.
	Encryption	Specifies whether to encrypt the connection to the destination database. Select Non-encrypted or SSL-encrypted based on your business requirements. Note This parameter is valid only if the destination ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance is deployed in the Replica Set architecture. If the destination database is a self-managed ApsaraDB for MongoDB Replica Set instance and Encryption is set to SSL-encrypted, you can upload a CA certificate to verify the connection to the destination database.

In the lower part of the page, click Test Connectivity and Proceed.
If the source or destination database is an Alibaba Cloud database instance, such as an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL or ApsaraDB for MongoDB instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the instance. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database hosted on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, DTS automatically adds the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security group rules of the ECS instance, and you must make sure that the ECS instance can access the database. If the database is deployed on multiple ECS instances, you must manually add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the security group rules of each ECS instance. If the source or destination database is a self-managed database that is deployed in a data center or provided by a third-party cloud service provider, you must manually add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers to the whitelist of the database to allow DTS to access the database. For more information, see the CIDR blocks of DTS servers section of the Add the CIDR blocks of DTS servers topic.
Warning
If the CIDR blocks of DTS servers are automatically or manually added to the whitelist of the database or instance, or to the ECS security group rules, security risks may arise. Therefore, before you use DTS to synchronize data, you must understand and acknowledge the potential risks and take preventive measures, including but not limited to the following measures: enhancing the security of your username and password, limiting the ports that are exposed, authenticating API calls, regularly checking the whitelist or ECS security group rules and forbidding unauthorized CIDR blocks, or connecting the database to DTS by using Express Connect, VPN Gateway, or Smart Access Gateway.

Configure the objects to be synchronized and advanced settings. The following table describes the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Synchronization Types	The synchronization types. By default, Incremental Data Synchronization is selected. You must also select Schema Synchronization and Full Data Synchronization. After the precheck is complete, DTS synchronizes the historical data of the selected objects from the source database to the destination cluster. The historical data is the basis for subsequent incremental synchronization. Note For more information about the synchronization types, see the Synchronization types section of this topic.
Processing Mode of Conflicting Tables	Precheck and Report Errors: checks whether the destination database contains collections that have the same names as the collections in the source database. If the source and destination databases do not contain collections that have identical collection names, the precheck is passed. Otherwise, an error is returned during the precheck, and the data synchronization task cannot be started. Note If the source and destination databases have collections with identical names and the collections in the destination database cannot be deleted or renamed, you can use the object name mapping feature to rename the collections that are synchronized to the destination database. For more information, see Rename an object to be synchronized. Ignore Errors and Proceed: skips the precheck for identical collection names in the source and destination databases. Warning If you select Ignore Errors and Proceed, data inconsistency may occur and your business may be exposed to potential risks. If a data record in the destination database has the same primary key value or unique key value as a data record in the source database, DTS does not synchronize the data record to the destination database. The existing data record in the destination database is retained. Data may fail to be initialized, only specific columns are synchronized, or the data synchronization task fails.
Synchronization Topology	Select One-way Synchronization.
Capitalization of Object Names in Destination Instance	The capitalization of database names and collection names in the destination instance. By default, DTS default policy is selected. You can select other options to ensure that the capitalization of object names is consistent with the default capitalization of object names in the source or destination database. For more information, see Specify the capitalization of object names in the destination instance.
Source Objects	Select one or more objects from the Source Objects section and click the icon to add the objects to the Selected Objects section. Note You can select databases or collections as the objects to be synchronized.
Selected Objects	To rename an object that you want to synchronize to the destination instance, right-click the object in the Selected Objects section. For more information, see the Map the name of a single object section of the Map object names topic. To rename multiple objects at a time, click Batch Edit in the upper-right corner of the Selected Objects section. For more information, see the Map multiple object names at a time section of the Map object names topic. Note To select SQL operations performed on a specific database or table, right-click an object in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, select the SQL operations that you want to synchronize. For more information about the operations, see the Synchronization types section of this topic. To specify WHERE conditions to filter data, right-click an object in the Selected Objects section. In the dialog box that appears, specify the conditions. For more information, see Set filter conditions.

Click Next: Advanced Settings to configure advanced settings.

Data Verification Settings
For more information about how to configure the data verification feature, see Configure data verification

Advanced Settings

Parameter	Description
Dedicated Cluster for Task Scheduling	By default, DTS schedules tasks to shared clusters. You do not need to configure this parameter. If you want to improve the stability of data synchronization tasks, purchase a dedicated cluster. For more information, see What is a DTS dedicated cluster.
Set Alerts	Specifies whether to configure alerting for the data synchronization task. If the task fails or the synchronization latency exceeds the specified threshold, alert contacts will receive notifications. Valid values: No: does not enable alerting. Yes: configures alerting. In this case, you must also configure the alert threshold and alert notification settings. For more information, see the Configure monitoring and alerting when you create a DTS task section of the Configure monitoring and alerting topic.
Retry Time for Failed Connections	The retry time range for failed connections. If the source or destination database fails to be connected after the data synchronization task is started, DTS immediately retries a connection within the time range. Valid values: 10 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 720. We recommend that you set this parameter to a value greater than 30. If DTS reconnects to the source and destination databases within the specified time range, DTS resumes the data synchronization task. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails. Note If you specify different retry time ranges for multiple data synchronization tasks that have the same source or destination database, the shortest retry time range takes precedence. When DTS retries a connection, you are charged for the DTS instance. We recommend that you specify the retry time range based on your business requirements. You can also release the DTS instance at your earliest opportunity after the source and destination instances are released.
Retry Time for Other Issues	The retry time range for other issues. For example, if the DDL or DML operations fail to be performed after the data synchronization task is started, DTS immediately retries the operations within the time range. Valid values: 1 to 1440. Unit: minutes. Default value: 10. We recommend that you set this parameter to a value greater than 10. If the failed operations are successfully performed within the specified time range, DTS resumes the data synchronization task. Otherwise, the data synchronization task fails. Important The value of the Retry Time for Other Issues parameter must be smaller than the value of the Retry Time for Failed Connections parameter.
Enable Throttling for Full Data Migration	During full data synchronization, DTS uses the read and write resources of the source and destination databases. This may increase the load on the database servers. You can configure the Queries per second (QPS) to the source database, RPS of Full Data Migration, and Data migration speed for full migration (MB/s) parameters for full data synchronization tasks to reduce the load on the destination database server. Note This parameter is displayed only if Full Data Synchronization is selected for the Synchronization Types parameter.
Enable Throttling for Incremental Data Synchronization	Specifies whether to enable throttling for incremental data synchronization. You can enable throttling for incremental data synchronization based on your business requirements. To configure throttling, you must configure the RPS of Incremental Data Synchronization and Data synchronization speed for incremental synchronization (MB/s) parameters. This reduces the load on the destination database server.
Environment Tag	The environment tag that is used to identify the DTS instance. You can select an environment tag based on your business requirements. In this example, you do not need to configure this parameter.
Configure ETL	Specifies whether to enable the extract, transform, and load (ETL) feature. For more information, see What is ETL? Valid values: Yes: configures the ETL feature. You can enter data processing statements in the code editor. For more information, see Configure ETL in a data migration or data synchronization task. No: does not configure the ETL feature.

Save the task settings and run a precheck.
- To view the parameters to be specified when you call the relevant API operation to configure the DTS task, move the pointer over Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck and click Preview OpenAPI parameters.
- If you do not need to view or have viewed the parameters, click Next: Save Task Settings and Precheck in the lower part of the page.
Note
- Before you can start the data synchronization task, DTS performs a precheck. You can start the data synchronization task only after the task passes the precheck.
- If the data synchronization task fails the precheck, click View Details next to each failed item. After you analyze the causes based on the check results, troubleshoot the issues. Then, rerun the precheck.
- If an alert is triggered for an item during the precheck:
  If an alert item cannot be ignored, click View Details next to the failed item and troubleshoot the issue. Then, run a precheck again.
  If an alert item can be ignored, click Confirm Alert Details. In the View Details dialog box, click Ignore. In the message that appears, click OK. Then, click Precheck Again to run a precheck again. If you ignore the alert item, data inconsistency may occur, and your business may be exposed to potential risks.
Wait until the Success Rate becomes 100%. Then, click Next: Purchase Instance.

On the buy page, configure the Billing Method and Instance Class parameters for the data synchronization instance. The following table describes the parameters.

Section	Parameter	Description
New Instance Class	Billing Method	Subscription: You pay for a subscription when you create a data synchronization instance. The subscription billing method is more cost-effective than the pay-as-you-go billing method for long-term use. Pay-as-you-go: A pay-as-you-go instance is billed on an hourly basis. The pay-as-you-go billing method is suitable for short-term use. If you no longer require a pay-as-you-go data synchronization instance, you can release the instance to reduce costs.
	Resource Group Settings	The resource group to which the data synchronization instance belongs. Default value: default resource group. For more information, see What is Resource Management?
	Instance Class	DTS provides instance classes that vary in synchronization speed. You can select an instance class based on your business requirements. For more information, see Instance classes of data synchronization instances.
	Subscription Duration	If you select the subscription billing method, specify the subscription duration and the number of data synchronization instances that you want to create. The subscription duration can be one to nine months, one year, two years, three years, or five years. Note This parameter is available only if you select the Subscription billing method.

Read and select Data Transmission Service (Pay-as-you-go) Service Terms.
Click Buy and Start. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.
You can view the progress of the task in the task list.