Backup, export and restore

The data in your AuraDB instance can be backed up, exported, and restored using snapshots.

A snapshot is a copy of the data in an instance at a specific point in time.

The Snapshots tab within an AuraDB instance shows a list of available snapshots.

To access the Snapshots tab:

Navigate to the Neo4j Aura Console in your browser.
Select the instance you want to access.
Select the Snapshots tab.

Only the latest snapshot is available for Free instances. Snapshots are available for 7 days for Professional instances, 30 days for Business Critical instances, and 60 days for AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud instances.

Snapshot types

Scheduled

AuraDB Professional AuraDB Business Critical AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud

A Scheduled snapshot is a snapshot that is automatically triggered when you first create an instance, when changes to the underlying system occur (for example, a new patch release), and at a cadence depending on your plan type.

Scheduled snapshots are run automatically once a day for Professional instances and once an hour for Business Critical and Enterprise instances.

For AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud database instances running Neo4j v4.x, from day 0 to 7 scheduled snapshots run automatically once every 6 hours. From day 8 to 60, snapshots run once a day.

On demand

An On Demand snapshot is a snapshot that you manually trigger by selecting Take snapshot from the Snapshots tab of an instance.

Snapshot actions

Restore

Restoring a snapshot overwrites the data in your instance, replacing it with the data contained in the snapshot.

You can restore data in your instance to a previous snapshot by selecting Restore next to the snapshot you want to restore.

Restoring a snapshot requires you to confirm the action by typing RESTORE and selecting Restore.

Export and create

The ellipses (…) button next to an existing snapshot, allows you to:

Export - Download the instance as .backup file, allowing you to store a local copy and work on your data offline. (This applies to AuraDB v5 databases, for v4, the instances can be downloaded as .dump files.)
Create instance from snapshot - Create a new AuraDB instance using the data from the snapshot.

The ability to Export or Create an instance from a Scheduled Virtual Dedicated Cloud snapshot is limited to 14 days.

Additionally, for Virtual Dedicated Cloud instances running Neo4j version 5, the ability to export or create an instance from a Scheduled snapshot is limited to the first full snapshot, taken once per day.

Use the toggle Show exportable only on top of the list of snapshots to filter by whether a snapshot is exportable or not.

Security of backups and exported data

Neo4j Aura Enterprise automatically creates backups of each database at regular intervals. Aura stores the data securely in encrypted and dedicated cloud storage buckets. Backups are stored in the same Cloud Service Provider and region as the instance they are associated with. Users access backups through the Aura console.

In the console, it’s possible to:

See a list of previous backups
Choose to restore a backup
Download a backup (which serves as the export mechanism)

Retention periods

Table 1. The current Neo4j Aura Snapshot retention periods by tier
Tier	Aura version	Scheduled Snapshots per day	Scheduled Snapshot restorable days (exportable days)	On-Demand Snapshot restorable days (exportable days)
AuraDB Free	4, 5	N/A	N/A	30 days (30 days)
AuraDB Professional	4, 5	Full retention: 1	30 days (7 days)	30 days (30 days)
AuraDS Professional	4, 5	Full retention: 1	9 days (7 days)	180 days (180 days)
AuraDB Business Critical	5	Full: 1, Differential: 23 ^[1]	30 days (7 days)	30 days (30 days)
AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud	4	Full retention: 1, Short retention: 3 ^[2]	Full retention: 60 (14), Short retention: 7 (7) ^[2]	90 days (90 days)
AuraDB Virtual Dedicated Cloud	5	Full: 1, Diferential: 23 ^[1]	Full: 60 (14), Differential: 60 (N/A)	90 days (90 days)
AuraDS Enterprise	4	Full retention: 1	Full retention: 16 days (7 day)	180 days (180 days)
AuraDS Enterprise	5	Full: 1	Full: 16 days (7 days)	180 days (180 days)
1. Differential backups only contain the new data since the last backup, and are therfore not exportable, but they are restorable for the full duration. 2. Short retentions backups are the same as full backups, only with a shorter lifespan.