View detailed information about a backup¶
To view a detailed information about a backup, run the following command:
pbm describe-backup <backup-name>
The output provides the backup name, type, status, size and the information about the cluster topology it was taken in. For selective backups, it also shows the namespaces that were backed up.
Sample output
name: "2022-08-17T10:49:03Z"
type: logical
last_write_ts: 1662039300,2
last_transition_ts: "1662039304"
namespaces:
- Invoices.*
mongodb_version: 5.0.10-9
pbm_version: 2.0.0
status: done
size: 10234670
error: ""
replsets:
- name: rs1
status: done
iscs: false
last_write_ts: 1662039300,2
last_transition_ts: "1662039304"
error: ""
Backup timing¶
PBM shows the start time, finish time, and duration of a backup. You can use this information to compare backup performance and identify operations that take longer than expected.
You can view this timing information with the following commands:
pbm statuspbm listpbm describe-backuppbm logs
Check duration with pbm status¶
The Snapshots section of the pbm status output includes a DURATION column:
pbm status
Sample output
Cluster:
...
Snapshots:
NAME SIZE TYPE PROFILE SEL BASE RESTORE TIME DURATION STATUS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2026-08-24T12:17:58Z 840.17MB logical no no 2026-08-24T12:21:36 3m51s done
2026-08-24T12:17:24Z 2.06GB physical no no 2026-08-24T12:17:27 20s done
Check duration with pbm list¶
The pbm list output includes the duration of every listed backup:
pbm list
Sample output
Backup snapshots:
NAME TYPE PROFILE SELECTIVE BASE RESTORE TIME DURATION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2026-08-24T12:17:24Z physical no no 2026-08-24T12:17:27 20s
2026-08-24T12:17:58Z logical no no 2026-08-24T12:21:36 3m51s
For more information, see List backups.
Check start and finish times with pbm describe-backup¶
Use pbm describe-backup to view the start time, finish time, and duration of a specific backup:
pbm describe-backup 2026-08-24T12:17:58Z
Sample output
name: "2026-08-24T12:17:58Z"
...
start: "2026-08-24T12:17:58Z"
finish: "2026-08-24T12:21:49Z"
duration: 3m51s
...
The timing fields have the following meanings:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
start |
Time when PBM started the backup |
finish |
Time when the backup finished |
duration |
Elapsed time between start and finish |
Start and finish timestamps are shown in UTC and use the RFC 3339 format . Durations are written in formats: 20s, 3m51s, 1h14m2s. Anything under a minute shows seconds only.
For a backup that is still running, the finish time and duration are not available. PBM also omits the duration when the stored timestamps do not form a valid interval.
Check timing in the logs with pbm logs¶
When a backup finishes, the pbm logs output includes a summary with the backup name, start time, finish time, and duration:
pbm logs
Sample output
...
2026-08-24T12:21:49Z I [cfg/cfg00:30000] [backup/2026-08-24T12:17:58Z] backup finished
2026-08-24T12:21:49Z I [cfg/cfg00:30000] [backup/2026-08-24T12:17:58Z] backup: 2026-08-24T12:17:58Z, start: 2026-08-24T12:17:58Z, finish: 2026-08-24T12:21:49Z, duration: 3m51s
...
To view log entries for a specific backup, filter by the backup event:
pbm logs --event=backup/2026-08-24T12:17:58Z
Note
Backup duration and restore time represent different values. Duration shows how long the backup operation ran. Restore time identifies the latest point to which the backup can restore data. See Restore to time.
View backup size¶
Version added: 2.10.0
The command output displays the uncompressed backup size for the whole cluster and the compressed/uncompressed size for each replica set. This helps PBM evaluate the required disk space when doing physical restores with a fallback directory.
Sample output
pbm describe-backup 2025-06-05T16:57:35Z
name: "2025-06-05T16:57:35Z"
opid: 6841cc7f1f576b79efb26752
type: physical
...
status: done
size_h: 3.3 GiB
size_uncompressed_h: 4.0 GiB
....
replsets:
- name: rs2
status: done
node: rs202:30202
size_h: 3.3 GiB
size_uncompressed_h: 3.6 GiB
View collections in a backup¶
Version added: 2.3.0
You can view the list of collections included in the logical or selective backup. This simplifies troubleshooting as it helps identify the backup contents for environments where databases are frequently created or dropped.
To view the backup contents, use the --with-collections flag:
pbm describe-backup <backup-name> --with-collections
Sample output
name: "2023-09-14T14:44:33Z"
opid: 65031c51e6a16fa0e3deeb5f
type: logical
last_write_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:39Z"
last_transition_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:57Z"
mongodb_version: 6.0.9-7
fcv: "6.0"
pbm_version: 2.2.1
status: done
size_h: 89.3 KiB
replsets:
- name: rs0
status: done
node: rs00:30000
last_write_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:38Z"
last_transition_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:56Z"
collections:
- admin.pbmRRoles
- admin.pbmRUsers
- admin.system.roles
- admin.system.users
- admin.system.version
- db0.c0
- db0.c1
- db1.c0
- name: rs1
status: done
node: rs10:30100
last_write_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:38Z"
last_transition_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:49Z"
collections:
- admin.pbmRRoles
- admin.pbmRUsers
- admin.system.roles
- admin.system.users
- admin.system.version
- db0.c0
- db1.c0
- db1.c1
- name: cfg
status: done
node: cfg0:27000
last_write_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:39Z"
last_transition_time: "2023-09-14T14:44:42Z"
configsvr: true
collections:
- admin.pbmAgents
- admin.pbmBackups
- admin.pbmCmd
- admin.pbmConfig
- admin.pbmLock
- admin.pbmLockOp
- admin.pbmLog
- admin.pbmOpLog
- admin.pbmPITRChunks
- admin.pbmRRoles
- admin.pbmRUsers
- admin.system.roles
- admin.system.users
- admin.system.version
- config.chunks
- config.collections
- config.databases
- config.settings
- config.shards
- config.tags
- config.version
Created: March 29, 2023