absctl quick start

Back up and restore an Aerospike namespace using absctl with Docker. This guide takes approximately 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed and running
• A running Aerospike Database cluster with data to back up

Tip

If you don’t have an Aerospike cluster running, see the Database quick start to set one up with Docker.

Note

This quickstart uses host.docker.internal to connect from the container to your host machine, which works with Docker Desktop on macOS and Windows. Linux users may need to use --network host and connect to 127.0.0.1 instead.

Back up a namespace

1. Create a local directory to store backup files.

   mkdir -p ./data

2. Run absctl backup to back up the test namespace.

   docker run -it --rm \
     -v ./data:/data/backup \
     aerospike.jfrog.io/ecosystem-container-preview-public-local/absctl:v1.0.0-1 \
     absctl backup -h host.docker.internal:3000 -n test -d /data/backup

   • -v ./data:/data/backup: Mounts your ./data directory to the /data/backup directory in the Docker container.
   • -h host.docker.internal:3000: Connects to Aerospike running on your host machine.
   • -n test: Specifies the namespace to back up.
   • -d /data/backup: Writes backup files to the mounted directory

3. Verify the backup completed successfully.

   You should see a backup report similar to:

   Backup report
   -------------
   Start Time:          Mon, 03 Feb 2026 10:30:00 UTC
   Duration:            1.234s
   
   Records Read:        100
   sIndex Read:         0
   UDFs Read:           0
   
   Bytes Written:       12345
   Files Written:       1

   Check that .asb files exist in your local ./data directory:

   ls ./data

Restore a namespace

1. Run absctl restore to restore the backup to the same namespace.

   docker run -it --rm \
     -v ./data:/data/backup \
     aerospike.jfrog.io/ecosystem-container-preview-public-local/absctl:v1.0.0-1 \
     absctl restore -h host.docker.internal:3000 -n test -d /data/backup

2. Verify the restore completed successfully.

   You should see a restore report similar to:

   Restore report
   --------------
   Start Time:          Mon, 03 Feb 2026 10:35:00 UTC
   Duration:            2.345s
   
   Records Read:        100
   sIndex Read:         0
   UDFs Read:           0
   
   Expired Records:     0
   Skipped Records:     0
   Ignored Records:     0
   Fresher Records:     0
   Existed Records:     0
   
   Inserted Records:    100
   In Doubt Errors:     0

What’s next

• See absctl backup for the full backup command reference
• See absctl restore for the full restore command reference
• See Back up to cloud storage to store backups in AWS S3, GCP, or Azure
• Read the absctl installation page for other installation methods