ArangoDB v3.13 is under development and not released yet. This documentation is not final and potentially incomplete.

arangodump Options

The startup options of the arangodump executable

arangodump Options

Usage: arangodump [<options>]

General

`--all-databases`

Type: boolean

Whether to dump all databases.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--batch-size`

Type: uint64

The maximum size for individual data batches (in bytes).

Default: 67108864

`--check-configuration`

Type: boolean

Check the configuration and exit.

This is a command, no value needs to be specified. The process terminates after executing the command.

`--collection`

Type: string…

Restrict the dump to this collection name (can be specified multiple times). Either --collection or --ignore-collection can be used at the same time.

`--compress-output`

Type: boolean

Compress files containing collection contents using the gzip format.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--compress-request-threshold`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Type: uint64

The HTTP request body size from which on requests are transparently compressed when sending them to the server.

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`--compress-transfer`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Type: boolean

Compress data for transport between arangodump and server.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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`--config`

Type: string

The configuration file or “none”.

`--configuration`

Type: string

The configuration file or “none”.

`--dbserver-prefetch-batches`

Introduced in: v3.10.8, v3.11.2

Type: uint64

Number of batches to prefetch on each DB-Server.

Default: 5

`--dbserver-worker-threads`

Introduced in: v3.10.8, v3.11.2

Type: uint64

Number of worker threads on each DB-Server.

Default: 5

`--define`

Type: string…

Define a value for a @key@ entry in the configuration file using the syntax "key=value".

`--descriptors-minimum`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Type: uint64

The minimum number of file descriptors needed to start (0 = no minimum)

Default: 8192

`--docs-per-batch`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Type: uint64

The maximum number of documents to be returned per batch.

Default: 10000

`--dump-data`

Type: boolean

Whether to dump collection data.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--dump-dependencies`

Type: boolean

Dump the dependency graph of the feature phases (internal) and exit.

This is a command, no value needs to be specified. The process terminates after executing the command.

`--dump-options`

Type: boolean

Dump all available startup options in JSON format and exit.

This is a command, no value needs to be specified. The process terminates after executing the command.

`--dump-views`

Introduced in: v3.11.0

Type: boolean

Whether to dump view definitions.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--dump-vpack`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Experimental

Type: boolean

Dump collection data in velocypack format (more compact than JSON, but requires ArangoDB 3.12 or higher to restore)

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--force`

Type: boolean

Continue dumping even in the face of some server-side errors.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--honor-nsswitch`

Type: boolean

Allow hostname lookup configuration via /etc/nsswitch.conf if on Linux/glibc.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--ignore-collection`

Introduced in: v3.12.0

Type: string…

Ignore and exclude this collection during the dump process (can be specified multiple times). Either --collection or --ignore-collection can be used at the same time.

`--ignore-distribute-shards-like-errors`

Type: boolean

Continue dumping even if a sharding prototype collection is not backed up, too.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--include-system-collections`

Type: boolean

Include system collections.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--initial-batch-size`

Type: uint64

The initial size for individual data batches (in bytes).

Default: 8388608

`--local-network-threads`

Introduced in: v3.10.8, v3.11.2

Type: uint64

Number of local network threads, i.e. how many requests are sent in parallel.

Default: 5

`--local-writer-threads`

Introduced in: v3.10.8, v3.11.2

Type: uint64

Number of local writer threads.

Default: 5

`--log`

Deprecated in: v3.5.0

Type: string…

Set the topic-specific log level, using --log level for the general topic or --log topic=level for the specified topic (can be specified multiple times). Available log levels: fatal, error, warning, info, debug, trace.

Default: info

`--maskings`

Type: string

A path to a file with masking definitions.

`--output-directory`

Type: string

The output directory.

Default: /dump

`--overwrite`

Type: boolean

Overwrite data in the output directory.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--parallel-dump`

Introduced in: v3.10.8, v3.11.2

Type: boolean

Enable highly parallel dump behavior.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

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`--progress`

Type: boolean

Show the progress.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--shard`

Introduced in: v3.8.0

Type: string…

Restrict the dump to this shard (can be specified multiple times).

`--split-files`

Introduced in: v3.10.10, v3.11.2

Type: boolean

Split a collection in multiple files to increase throughput.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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This option only has effect when the option --parallel-dump is set to true. Restoring split files also requires an arangorestore version that is capable of restoring data of a single collection/shard from multiple files.

`--threads`

Type: uint32

The maximum number of collections/shards to process in parallel.

Default: dynamic (e.g. 8)

`--use-splice-syscall`

Introduced in: v3.9.4

Type: boolean

Use the splice() syscall for file copying (may not be supported on all filesystems).

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

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`--version`

Type: boolean

Print the version and other related information, then exit.

This is a command, no value needs to be specified. The process terminates after executing the command.

`--version-json`

Introduced in: v3.9.0

Type: boolean

Print the version and other related information in JSON format, then exit.

This is a command, no value needs to be specified. The process terminates after executing the command.

encryption

`--encryption.key-generator`

Enterprise Edition

Type: string

A program providing the encryption key on stdout. If set, encryption at rest is enabled.

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`--encryption.keyfile`

Enterprise Edition

Type: string

The path to the file that contains the encryption key. Must contain 32 bytes of data. If set, encryption at rest is enabled.

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You must secure the encryption key file so that only arangodump, arangorestore, and arangod can access it. You should also ensure that the file is not readable if someone steals your hardware, for example, by encrypting /mytmpfs or creating an in-memory file-system under /mytmpfs.

log

`--log.color`

Type: boolean

Use colors for TTY logging.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: dynamic (e.g. true)

`--log.escape-control-chars`

Introduced in: v3.9.0

Type: boolean

Escape control characters in log messages.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

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`--log.escape-unicode-chars`

Introduced in: v3.9.0

Type: boolean

Escape Unicode characters in log messages.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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`--log.file`

Type: string

shortcut for ‘--log.output file://’

Default: -

`--log.file-group`

Type: string

group to use for new log file, user must be a member of this group

`--log.file-mode`

Type: string

mode to use for new log file, umask will be applied as well

`--log.force-direct`

Type: boolean

Do not start a separate thread for logging.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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You can use this option to disable logging in an extra logging thread. If set to true, any log messages are immediately printed in the thread that triggered the log message. This is non-optimal for performance but can aid debugging. If set to false, log messages are handed off to an extra logging thread, which asynchronously writes the log messages.

`--log.foreground-tty`

Type: boolean

Also log to TTY if backgrounded.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--log.hostname`

Introduced in: v3.8.0

Type: string

The hostname to use in log message. Leave empty for none, use “auto” to automatically determine a hostname.

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`--log.ids`

Type: boolean

Log unique message IDs.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

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`--log.level`

Type: string…

Set the topic-specific log level, using --log.level level for the general topic or --log.level topic=level for the specified topic (can be specified multiple times). Available log levels: fatal, error, warning, info, debug, trace. Available log topics: all, audit-hotbackup, audit-service, audit-document, audit-view, audit-collection, audit-database, audit-authorization, audit-authentication, deprecation, views, v8, validation, ttl, trx, threads, syscall, supervision, statistics, startup, ssl, security, rocksdb, restore, requests, rep-wal, rep-state, replication2, replication, queries, memory, maintenance, license, httpclient, heartbeat, graphs, flush, general, engines, dump, development, crash, config, communication, cluster, cache, bench, backup, authorization, authentication, aql, agencystore, agencycomm, agency.

Default: info

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ArangoDB’s log output is grouped by topics. --log.level can be specified multiple times at startup, for as many topics as needed. The log verbosity and output files can be adjusted per log topic.

arangod --log.level all=warning --log.level queries=trace --log.level startup=trace

This sets a global log level of warning and two topic-specific levels (trace for queries and info for startup). Note that --log.level warning does not set a log level globally for all existing topics, but only the general topic. Use the pseudo-topic all to set a global log level.

The same in a configuration file:

[log]
level = all=warning
level = queries=trace
level = startup=trace

The available log levels are:

fatal: Only log fatal errors.
error: Only log errors.
warning: Only log warnings and errors.
info: Log information messages, warnings, and errors.
debug: Log debug and information messages, warnings, and errors.
trace: Logs trace, debug, and information messages, warnings, and errors.

Note that the debug and trace levels are very verbose.

Some relevant log topics available in ArangoDB 3 are:

agency: Information about the cluster Agency.
performance: Performance-related messages.
queries: Executed AQL queries, slow queries.
replication: Replication-related information.
requests: HTTP requests.
startup: Information about server startup and shutdown.
threads: Information about threads.

You can adjust the log levels at runtime via the PUT /_admin/log/level HTTP API endpoint.

Audit logging (Enterprise Edition): The server logs all audit events by default. Low priority events, such as statistics operations, are logged with the debug log level. To keep such events from cluttering the log, set the appropriate log topics to the info log level.

`--log.line-number`

Type: boolean

Include the function name, file name, and line number of the source code that issues the log message. Format: [func@FileName.cpp:123]

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--log.max-entry-length`

Type: uint32

The maximum length of a log entry (in bytes).

Default: 134217728

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`--log.max-queued-entries`

Introduced in: v3.10.12, v3.11.5, v3.12.0

Type: uint32

Upper limit of log entries that are queued in a background thread.

Default: 16384

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`--log.output`

Type: string…

Log destination(s), e.g. file:///path/to/file (any occurrence of $PID is replaced with the process ID).

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This option allows you to direct the global or per-topic log messages to different outputs. The output definition can be one of the following:

- for stdout
+ for stderr
syslog://<syslog-facility>
syslog://<syslog-facility>/<application-name>
file://<relative-or-absolute-path>

To set up a per-topic output configuration, use --log.output <topic>=<definition>:

--log.output queries=file://queries.log

The above example logs query-related messages to the file queries.log.

You can specify the option multiple times in order to configure the output for different log topics:

--log.level queries=trace --log.output queries=file:///queries.log --log.level requests=info --log.output requests=file:///requests.log

The above example logs all query-related messages to the file queries.log and HTTP requests with a level of info or higher to the file requests.log.

Any occurrence of $PID in the log output value is replaced at runtime with the actual process ID. This enables logging to process-specific files:

--log.output 'file://arangod.log.$PID'

Note that dollar sign may need extra escaping when specified on a command-line such as Bash.

If you specify --log.file-mode <octalvalue>, then any newly created log file uses octalvalue as file mode. Please note that the umask value is applied as well.

If you specify --log.file-group <name>, then any newly created log file tries to use <name> as the group name. Note that you have to be a member of that group. Otherwise, the group ownership is not changed.

The old --log.file option is still available for convenience. It is a shortcut for the more general option --log.output file://filename.

The old --log.requests-file option is still available. It is a shortcut for the more general option --log.output requests=file://....

To change the log levels for the specified output you can add a comma separated list of topics with their respective level after the output definition, separated by a semicolon: --log.output file:///path/to/file;queries=trace,requests=info --log.output -;all=error

`--log.performance`

Deprecated in: v3.5.0

Type: boolean

Shortcut for --log.level performance=trace.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--log.prefix`

Type: string

Prefix log message with this string.

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`--log.process`

Introduced in: v3.8.0

Type: boolean

Show the process identifier (PID) in log messages.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--log.request-parameters`

Type: boolean

include full URLs and HTTP request parameters in trace logs

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--log.role`

Type: boolean

Log the server role.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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`--log.shorten-filenames`

Type: boolean

shorten filenames in log output (use with --log.line-number)

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--log.structured-param`

Introduced in: v3.10.0

Type: string…

Toggle the usage of the log category parameter in structured log messages.

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`--log.thread`

Type: boolean

Show the thread identifier in log messages.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--log.thread-name`

Type: boolean

Show thread name in log messages.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--log.time-format`

Type: string

The time format to use in logs.

Default: utc-datestring-micros

Possible values: “local-datestring”, “timestamp”, “timestamp-micros”, “timestamp-millis”, “uptime”, “uptime-micros”, “uptime-millis”, “utc-datestring”, “utc-datestring-micros”, “utc-datestring-millis”

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Format	Example	Description
`timestamp`	1553766923000	Unix timestamps, in seconds
`timestamp-millis`	1553766923000.123	Unix timestamps, in seconds, with millisecond precision
`timestamp-micros`	1553766923000.123456	Unix timestamps, in seconds, with microsecond precision
`uptime`	987654	seconds since server start
`uptime-millis`	987654.123	seconds since server start, with millisecond precision
`uptime-micros`	987654.123456	seconds since server start, with microsecond precision
`utc-datestring`	2019-03-28T09:55:23Z	UTC-based date and time in format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
`utc-datestring-millis`	2019-03-28T09:55:23.123Z	like `utc-datestring`, but with millisecond precision
`local-datestring`	2019-03-28T10:55:23	local date and time in format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS

`--log.use-json-format`

Introduced in: v3.8.0

Type: boolean

Use JSON as output format for logging.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

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Key	Value
`time`	date/time of log message, in format specified by `--log.time-format`
`prefix`	only emitted if `--log.prefix` is set
`pid`	process id, only emitted if `--log.process` is set
`tid`	thread id, only emitted if `--log.thread` is set
`thread`	thread name, only emitted if `--log.thread-name` is set
`role`	server role (1 character), only emitted if `--log.role` is set
`level`	log level (e.g. `"WARN"`, `"INFO"`)
`file`	source file name of log message, only emitted if `--log.line-number` is set
`line`	source file line of log message, only emitted if `--log.line-number` is set
`function`	source file function name, only emitted if `--log.line-number` is set
`topic`	log topic name
`id`	log id (5 digit hexadecimal string), only emitted if `--log.ids` is set
`hostname`	hostname if `--log.hostname` is set
`message`	the actual log message payload

`--log.use-local-time`

Deprecated in: v3.5.0

Type: boolean

Use the local timezone instead of UTC.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Show details

This option is deprecated. Use --log.time-format local-datestring instead.

`--log.use-microtime`

Deprecated in: v3.5.0

Type: boolean

Use Unix timestamps in seconds with microsecond precision.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Show details

This option is deprecated. Use --log.time-format timestamp-micros instead.

random

`--random.generator`

Type: uint32

The random number generator to use (1 = MERSENNE, 2 = RANDOM, 3 = URANDOM, 4 = COMBINED). The options 2, 3, and 4 are deprecated and will be removed in a future version.

Default: 1

Possible values: 1, 2, 3, 4

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server

`--server.ask-jwt-secret`

Type: boolean

If enabled, you are prompted for a JWT secret. This option is not compatible with --server.username and --server.password. If specified, it is used for all connections - even if a new connection to another server is created.

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

`--server.authentication`

Type: boolean

Require authentication credentials when connecting (does not affect the server-side authentication settings).

This option can be specified without a value to enable it.

Default: true

`--server.connection-timeout`

Type: double

The connection timeout (in seconds).

Default: 5

`--server.database`

Type: string

The database name to use when connecting.

Default: _system

`--server.endpoint`

Type: string…

The endpoint to connect to. Use ’none’ to start without a server. Use http+ssl:// as schema to connect to an SSL-secured server endpoint, otherwise http+tcp:// or unix://

Default: tcp://127.0.0.1:8529

`--server.jwt-secret-keyfile`

Type: string

If enabled, the JWT secret is loaded from the given file. This option is not compatible with --server.ask-jwt-secret, --server.username and --server.password. If specified, it is used for all connections - even if a new connection to another server is created.

`--server.max-packet-size`

Type: uint64

The maximum packet size (in bytes) for client/server communication.

Default: 1073741824

`--server.password`

Type: string

The password to use when connecting. If not specified and authentication is required, you are prompted for a password. In startup options, you can wrap the names of environment variables in at signs to use their value, like @ARANGO_PASSWORD@. This helps to expose the password less, like to the process list. Literal @ need to be escaped as @@.

`--server.request-timeout`

Type: double

The request timeout (in seconds).

Default: 1200

`--server.username`

Type: string

The username to use when connecting.

Default: root

ssl

`--ssl.protocol`

Type: uint64

The SSL protocol (1 = SSLv2 (unsupported), 2 = SSLv2 or SSLv3 (negotiated), 3 = SSLv3, 4 = TLSv1, 5 = TLSv1.2, 6 = TLSv1.3, 9 = generic TLS (negotiated))

Default: 5

Possible values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9