Back up an index

This page describes how to create a static copy of an index, also known as a “backup” for a serverless index and a “collection” for a pod-based index.

To learn more about the concepts related to backups and collections, see Understanding backups and collections.

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Serverless index backups

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Create a backup

To create a backup of a serverless index using the Pinecone console, take the following steps: To create a backup of a serverless index using the Pinecone console, take the following steps:

1. Select your project.
2. Go to Database > Backups.
3. Click Create a backup.
4. Select the index to backup.
5. Enter the backup name.
6. Click Create a backup.

Alternatively, you can initiate a backup from a specific index:

1. Go to Databases > Indexes.
2. For the index you want to back up, click ellipsis (…) menu > Create a backup.
3. Enter the backup name.
4. Click Create a backup.

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View your backups

You can view the backups for a specific index from either the Backups tab or the Indexes tab:

• From the Database > Backups tab, click ellipsis (…) menu > View backups for the index you want to view backups of.
• From the Database > Indexes tab, click ellipsis (…) menu > View backups for the index you want to view backups of.

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Delete a backup

To delete a backup of a serverless index using the Pinecone console, take the following steps: To delete a backup of a serverless index using the Pinecone console, take the following steps:

1. Select your project.
2. Go to Database > Backups.
3. For the source index from which you want to delete a backup, click ellipsis (…) menu > Delete.
4. Select the backup(s) to delete.
5. Click Delete backup(s).
6. Enter the source index name.
7. Click Confirm deletion.

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Pod-based index backups using collections

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Create a collection

To create a backup of your pod-based index, use the create_collection operation. To create a backup of your pod-based index, use the create_collection operation.

The following example creates a collection named example-collection from an index named example-index: The following example creates a collection named example-collection from an index named example-index:

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Check the status of a collection

To retrieve the status of the process creating a collection and the size of the collection, use the describe_collection operation. Specify the name of the collection to check. You can only call describe_collection on a collection in the current project.

The describe_collection operation returns an object containing key-value pairs representing the name of the collection, the size in bytes, and the creation status of the collection.

The following example gets the creation status and size of a collection named example-collection.

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List your collections

To get a list of the collections in the current project, use the list_collections operation.

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Delete a collection

To delete a collection, use the delete_collection operation. Specify the name of the collection to delete.

Deleting the collection takes several minutes. During this time, the describe_collection operation returns the status “deleting”.