> For the complete MongoDB documentation index, see www.mongodb.com/docs/llms.txt # Online Archive Overview and Limitations **Important:** The feature described on this page is not currently supported on Atlas Infinite clusters during public preview. For the features supported in public preview, see [Public Preview Availability.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/infinite/atlas-infinite-landing/#public-preview-availability) Atlas Online Archive is a feature designed to help organizations optimize their data storage and query costs by archiving infrequently accessed data from their MongoDB Atlas cluster to a cloud object storage. With Online Archive, you gain the ability to manage the lifecycle of your data, maintain a unified query experience across live and archived datasets, and reduce operational complexity while ensuring data remains accessible when needed. Flex clusters don't support this feature at this time. To learn more, see [Atlas Flex Limitations.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/reference/flex-limitations.md#std-label-flex-cluster-limitations) ## Key Considerations for Using Online Archive Consider the following requirements, expectations and limitations when using Atlas Online Archive. ### Cluster Requirements Online Archive in Atlas is available only on `M10` and greater clusters. ### Required Permissions To create or delete an Online Archive, you must have one of these roles: - [`Project Data Access Admin`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/reference/user-roles.md#mongodb-authrole-Project-Data-Access-Admin) role - [`Project Cluster Manager`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/reference/user-roles.md#mongodb-authrole-Project-Cluster-Manager) role - [`Project Owner`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/reference/user-roles.md#mongodb-authrole-Project-Owner) role ### Performance Expectations Consider the following performance expectations when working with Online Archive: - Archival Jobs: MongoDB runs archival jobs periodically to move data from your cluster to cloud storage. These jobs operate asynchronously and are designed to minimize performance impact on your cluster. - Cluster Capacity: Archiving jobs consume cluster resources. Ensure your Atlas cluster has sufficient capacity to support both active workloads and archiving tasks to avoid resource constraints. - Query Performance: Archived data resides in read-optimized cloud object storage, which might have slower query performance compared to querying live data on your Atlas cluster. **Important:** By default, MongoDB waits 5 minutes after completing an archival job to start another run. ### Limitations Online Archive doesn't support the following: - Writing to the Online Archive. - [Configuring](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/config/config-data-stores.md#std-label-config-adf) or [administering](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/admin/manage-federated-database.md#std-label-adf-cli) the Online Archive federated database instance through the Atlas console, Atlas Data Federation [CLI](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/admin/manage-federated-database.md#std-label-adf-cli), or Atlas Data Federation API. - Archiving a capped collection. - Archiving data when the total volume exceeds 2 GB per five-minute job cycle. - Archiving data below the size of 5 MiB after 7 days. To learn more, see [Limitations.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive.md#std-label-config-online-archive-limitations) - [GridFS.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/core/gridfs/) - Deleting individual documents, including to respond to a request to delete personal data. To learn more, see [Personal Data and Right to Erasure.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md#std-label-online-archive-personal-data-erasure) **Important:** Online Archive inherits all Atlas Data Federation limitations. This includes MongoDB Search pipeline stages like [`$search`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/search/query/aggregation-stages/search.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-search) and [`$searchMeta`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/search/query/aggregation-stages/searchMeta.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-searchMeta) and MongoDB Vector Search pipeline stage [`$vectorSearch`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/vector-search/query/aggregation-stages/vector-search-stage.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-vectorSearch), which are not supported when querying archived data. For a complete list of unsupported features, see [Atlas Data Federation Query and Feature Limitations.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/supported-unsupported/limitations.md#std-label-df-limitations) ### Personal Data and Right to Erasure If you archive personal data, you need to plan how you'll respond to data subject requests, such as a request to delete personal data under the right to erasure in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Online Archive is read-only and doesn't support deleting individual documents from the archive. You can delete archived data only at the archive level: - [Delete the online archive](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md#std-label-delete-online-archive). You delete the online archive manually. Five days after you delete the online archive, Atlas automatically deletes all the files and metadata on the online archive storage. After Atlas deletes this data, you can't restore it. - Specify a data retention period for the archive. Atlas deletes archived data after the number of days that you specify, from `7` to `9125` days. To learn more, see [Configure Online Archive.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive.md#std-label-config-online-archive) To erase an individual's personal data from archived data, you must handle the deletion in your application or operational process. To erase individual documents from an online archive, perform the following steps: 1. Restore the affected data to your cluster. To learn how to restore archived data with the [`$merge`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/reference/operator/aggregation/merge.md#mongodb-pipeline-pipe.-merge) stage, see [Restore Specific Documents from Online Archive.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/restore-archived-data-with-merge.md#std-label-restore-archived-data) 2. Delete the documents from your cluster. To learn more, see [Delete Documents.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/tutorial/delete-documents/) 3. Delete the online archive. To learn more, see [Delete an Online Archive.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md#std-label-delete-online-archive) 4. Create a new online archive. To learn more, see [Configure Online Archive.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive.md#std-label-config-online-archive) ## Online Archive and Atlas Data Federation When you configure an Online Archive for a collection, Atlas uses Atlas Data Federation to create a read-only [Federated Database Instance](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation.md#std-label-atlas-data-federation). This enables unified queries across both your live cluster and your archived data, using the same collection and database names. You define archiving rules based on time fields or custom filters. Atlas evaluates these rules continuously and automatically transfers matching documents to a cloud object storage managed by Atlas (e.g., AWS S3, Azure Blob). ### AWS | Data Federation Region | AWS (Amazon Web Services) Region | Atlas Region | | --- | --- | --- | | Northern Virginia, USA | `us-east-1` | `US_EAST_1` | | Oregon, USA | `us-west-2` | `US_WEST_2` | | Sao Paulo, Brazil | `sa-east-1` | `SA_EAST_1` | | Ireland | `eu-west-1` | `EU_WEST_1` | | London, England, UK | `eu-west-2` | `EU_WEST_2` | | Frankfurt, Germany | `eu-central-1` | `EU_CENTRAL_1` | | Tokyo, Japan | `ap-northeast-1` | `AP_NORTHEAST_1` | | Seoul, South Korea | `ap-northeast-2` | `AP_NORTHEAST_2` | | Mumbai, India | `ap-south-1` | `AP_SOUTH_1` | | Singapore | `ap-southeast-1` | `AP_SOUTHEAST_1` | | Sydney, Australia | `ap-southeast-2` | `AP_SOUTHEAST_2` | | Montreal, QC, Canada | `ca-central-1` | `CA_CENTRAL_1` | **Important:** Atlas encrypts your archived data using [Amazon's server-side encryption S3-managed keys (SSE-S3)](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/UsingServerSideEncryption.html) for archived data. Atlas can't use any encryption-at-rest encryption keys that you used on your cluster data. Atlas archives data based on the criteria you specify in an archiving rule. The criteria vary based on the type of collection you want to archive: ### Standard Collection For standard collections, the criteria can be one of the following: - A combination of a date field to archive data and number of days to keep data on the Atlas cluster. When the current date exceeds the value of the specified date field, Atlas subtracts the number of days from the current time and then archives data after the time. - A custom query. Atlas runs the query specified in the archiving rule to select the documents to archive. When you configure an Online Archive on your cluster, Atlas creates two federated database instances: - Federated Database Instance for your archive that allows you to query data on your archive only. - Federated Database Instance for your cluster and archive that allows you to query both your cluster and archived data. ## Use Cases You can use Online Archive to reduce storage costs and manage cold data while preserving access through queries. Typical use cases include: - Large-scale historical datasets: Your cluster stores high volumes of data, such as logs, metrics, or transaction records, and you need to reduce operational storage costs without deleting data. Online Archive helps by relocating cold data to a cheaper cloud object storage while keeping it accessible through queries. - Time series archiving: Your application ingests high-frequency time series data from sources like IoT devices, industrial sensors, or financial systems. Online Archive allows you to retain this data for compliance, auditing, or analytics while minimizing impact on your cluster’s performance. - Cold operational data: You manage application data (e.g., order histories, completed service requests, old invoices) that is rarely accessed after a certain age but must be retained for reference or regulatory requirements. - Long-term customer records: Your system retains archived customer profiles, subscription history, or user activity logs for legal retention periods or post-analysis, but these documents no longer require frequent access. - Compliance and audit: Your organization must retain data for regulatory or audit purposes (e.g., financial transactions, medical logs, access logs). Archiving enables cost-effective long-term storage without modifying your query interface. - Archiving for analytics: You archive data that’s not required for day-to-day operations but is occasionally analyzed for trends, reports, or forecasting—without adding overhead to your primary cluster. Online Archive helps isolate cold data from hot workloads while maintaining a unified interface to both. This enables operational efficiency, cost savings, and retention compliance—all without application changes. ## Next Steps For a hands-on experience you can create an Online Archive for a collection on your cluster through your Atlas console and API (Application Programming Interface). Once created, you can: - [Configure an Online Archive](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive.md#std-label-config-online-archive) - [View the list of Online Archives.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md#std-label-view-online-archive) - [Configure the connection method, standard or private endpoint, for your Online Archive](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/connect-to-online-archive.md#std-label-connect-online-archive) - [Edit an archiving rule.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md#std-label-edit-online-archive) - [Delete your Online Archive.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md#std-label-delete-online-archive) - [Pause archiving.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/pause-resume-online-archive.md#std-label-pause-resume-online-archive) - [Restore archived data.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/restore-archived-data-with-merge.md#std-label-restore-archived-data)