---
title: "Aerospike Backup Service 3.6.1 release notes"
description: "Aerospike Backup Service 3.6.1 release notes covering restore-by-timestamp enhancements, compact backups, scheduling changes, and monitoring updates."
---

# Aerospike Backup Service 3.6.1 release notes

> For the complete documentation index see: [llms.txt](https://aerospike.com/docs/llms.txt)
> 
> All documentation pages available in markdown.

July 24, 2026  |  **[Download](https://aerospike.com/download/backupservice/backup_service)**

## New in this version

Aerospike Backup Service (ABS) 3.6.1 is built on [`backup-go` v0.11.0](https://github.com/aerospike/backup-go/releases/tag/v0.11.0). It expands restore-by-timestamp for cross-region and disaster recovery workflows, adds a `compact` backup policy option for smaller backup files, improves backup observability, and streamlines performance.

## Breaking changes

-   Restore job `status` response values are now lowercase: `running`, `success`, `failure`, and `canceled`. The previous values were `Running`, `Done`, `Failed`, and `Canceled`. Update integrations that compare these response values. \[BKRS-127\]
-   The default service log level changed from `DEBUG` to `INFO`. Set `service.logger.level` to `DEBUG` explicitly to retain verbose logging. \[BKRS-186\]
-   The default `min-part-size` for Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage (GCS) increased from 5 MiB to 50 MiB. At the default `parallel-write` value of 8, chunk buffers can use about 400 MiB per active namespace. See [`min-part-size` tuning](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/backup-and-restore/backup-service/performance-tuning#min-part-size-multipart-upload-chunk-size). \[BKRS-187\]
-   For finite `file-limit` values, ABS rejects cloud storage configurations that require 10,000 or more chunks per backup file. A `file-limit` value of `0` disables this validation. Increase `min-part-size` or decrease `file-limit` if validation rejects an existing configuration. \[BKRS-187\]
-   Backup scan `parallel` is now enforced per routine instead of per namespace. For routines with multiple namespaces, the total concurrent scans across all namespaces cannot exceed `parallel`. Verify that backup duration still fits within the scheduled backup window after upgrading. \[BKRS-160\]
-   When the source cluster defines `max-parallel-scans`, an explicitly configured `parallel` value cannot exceed it. The cluster limit is shared across active routines. This validation runs at startup and when the configuration changes. \[BKRS-238\]
-   The `aerospike_backup_service_restore_in_progress` metric now counts only active restore jobs. Update queries or alerts that relied on completed jobs remaining in this gauge. \[BKRS-127\]
-   Startup storage checks now verify read and list access for Amazon S3, GCS, and Azure Blob Storage. Missing read or list permissions prevent startup. Write or delete permission failures produce warnings and can cause backup or cleanup operations to fail later. \[BKRS-194\]

## New features

-   Restore-by-timestamp requests can override `source` or `source-name` to read backups from a different storage location than the configured routine. This supports cross-region migration and disaster recovery restores. \[BKRS-212\]
-   When both `source` and `destination` are provided in a restore-by-timestamp request, the routine no longer needs to exist in the ABS configuration file. See [Restore using routine name and timestamp](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/backup-and-restore/backup-service/api-examples#restore-using-routine-name-and-timestamp). \[BKRS-212\]
-   Added a [`compact`](https://aerospike.com/docs/database/tools/backup-and-restore/backup-service/config#backup-policies.POLICY_NAME.compact) backup policy option. When enabled, ABS skips Base64 encoding for binary large object (BLOB) types, producing smaller backup files. The supported BLOB types are Bytes, HyperLogLog (HLL), RawMap, and RawList. \[BKRS-198\]
-   A restore-by-timestamp request with `policy.unique` set to `true` leaves existing records unchanged. With the default incremental reordering, ABS adds missing records using the newest backed-up version at the target timestamp. Do not set `disable-reordering` to `true` when the newest version is required. \[BKRS-215\]
-   Added support for Azure Blob Storage authentication with a shared access signature (SAS) token in the storage endpoint URL. The URL contains the credential, so protect it as a secret and use a short-lived token with only the required permissions. \[BKRS-248\]
-   Added the `aerospike_backup_service_restore_events_total` Prometheus counter with an `outcome` label (`success`, `failure`, `canceled`) for completed restore jobs. \[BKRS-127\]
-   Added the `aerospike_backup_service_backup_in_progress` Prometheus gauge with `routine` and `type` labels for running backups. \[BKRS-127\]

## Improvements

-   Improved Aerospike record reader performance. \[BKRS-178\]
-   Improved restore decoder performance. \[BKRS-182\]
-   Multi-namespace routines now schedule scans fairly across namespaces. \[BKRS-238\]
-   The `aerospike_backup_service_backup_progress_pct` metric now reports fractional progress without rounding. ABS recalculates the estimated record count every 10 minutes during a backup. \[BKRS-185, BKRS-218\]
-   Clarified restore-by-timestamp API field descriptions in the OpenAPI specification. \[BKRS-104\]
-   Backup retries now start in a new timestamped directory, preventing path collisions between attempts. \[BKRS-195\]
-   Relaxed `finished` timestamp validation so backups created before ABS 3.4 remain restorable. \[BKRS-209\]
-   Removed the hardcoded `localhost:8080` server URL from the generated OpenAPI specification. \[BKRS-242\]
-   ABS now rescans affected routine storage after successful backups and changes to backup routines or their storage configuration, refreshing last-backup timestamps.

## Bug fixes

-   Fixed a race condition that could allow a restore to start while a backup was starting on the same cluster and namespace. \[BKRS-242\]
-   Fixed public key infrastructure (PKI) cluster authentication when no password is configured. \[BKRS-251\]
-   Fixed retry handling for transient errors during large GCS uploads. \[BKRS-244\]
-   Released scan limiter slots when a backup is canceled so later backups can start. \[BKRS-114\]

For additional details about fixes, improvements, and maintenance in this release, see the [release page on GitHub](https://github.com/aerospike/aerospike-backup-service/releases/tag/v3.6.1).