PBM Command Line Utility (pbm)

pbm CLI is the command line tool with which you operate Percona Backup for MongoDB. pbm provides the pbm command that you will use manually in the shell. It will also work as a command that can be executed in scripts (for example, by crond).

The set of pbm sub-commands enables you to manage backups in your MongoDB environment.

pbm uses PBM Control collections to communicate with pbm-agent processes. It starts and monitors backup or restore operations by updating and reading the corresponding PBM control collections for operations, log, etc. Likewise, it modifies the PBM config by saving it in the PBM Control collection for config values.

pbm CLI does not have its own config and/or cache files. Setting the PBM_MONGODB_URI environment variable in your shell is a configuration-like step that should be done for practical ease though. (Without PBM_MONGODB_URI, the --mongodb-uri command line argument will need to be specified each time.)

To learn how to set the PBM_MONGODB_URI environment variable, see Set the MongoDB connection URI for pbm CLI. For more information about MongoDB URI connection strings, see Authentication.

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Last update: July 16, 2025
Created: July 16, 2025