# Creating a manual cluster snapshot
<a name="backup_restore-create_manual_cluster_snapshot"></a>

You can create a manual snapshot using either the AWS Management Console or AWS CLI. The amount of time it takes to create a snapshot varies with the size of your databases. When you create a snapshot, you must do the following:

1. Identify which cluster to back up.

1. Give your snapshot a name. This allows you to restore from it later.

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#### [ Using the AWS Management Console ]

To create a manual snapshot using the AWS Management Console, you can follow either method below.

1. **Method 1:**

   1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb](https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb).

   1. In the navigation pane, choose **Snapshots**.
**Tip**  
If you don't see the navigation pane on the left side of your screen, choose the menu icon (![\[Hamburger menu icon with three horizontal lines.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/documentdb/latest/developerguide/images/docdb-menu-icon.png)) in the upper-left corner of the page.

   1. On the **Snapshots** page, choose **Create**.

   1. On the **Create cluster snapshot** page:

      1. **Cluster identifier** — From the drop-down list of clusters, choose the cluster that you want to create a snapshot of.

      1. **Snapshot identifier** — Enter a name for your snapshot.

         Snapshot naming constraints:
         + Length is [1–255] letters, numbers, or hyphens.
         + First character must be a letter.
         + Cannot end with a hyphen or contain two consecutive hyphens.
         + Must be unique for all clusters (across Amazon RDS, Amazon Neptune, and Amazon DocumentDB) per AWS account, per Region.

      1. Choose **Create**.

1. **Method 2:**

   1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb](https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb).

   1. In the navigation pane, choose **Clusters**.
**Tip**  
If you don't see the navigation pane on the left side of your screen, choose the menu icon (![\[Hamburger menu icon with three horizontal lines.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/documentdb/latest/developerguide/images/docdb-menu-icon.png)) in the upper-left corner of the page.

   1. On the **Clusters** page, choose the button to the left of the cluster that you want to snapshot.

   1. From the **Actions** menu, choose **Take snapshot**.

   1. On the **Create cluster snapshot** page:

      1. **Snapshot identifier** — Enter a name for your snapshot.

         Snapshot naming constraints:
         + Length is [1–63] letters, numbers, or hyphens.
         + First character must be a letter.
         + Cannot end with a hyphen or contain two consecutive hyphens.
         + Must be unique for all clusters (across Amazon RDS, Amazon Neptune, and Amazon DocumentDB) per AWS account, per Region.

      1. Choose **Create**.

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#### [ Using the AWS CLI ]

To create a cluster snapshot using the AWS CLI, use the `create-db-cluster-snapshot` operation with the following parameters.

**Parameters**
+ **--db-cluster-identifier** — Required. The name of the cluster that you are taking a snapshot of. This cluster must exist and be *available*.
+ **--db-cluster-snapshot-identifier** — Required. The name of the manual snapshot that you are creating.

The following example creates a snapshot named `sample-cluster-snapshot` for a cluster named `sample-cluster`.

For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

```
aws docdb create-db-cluster-snapshot \
    --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster \
    --db-cluster-snapshot-identifier sample-cluster-snapshot
```

For Windows:

```
aws docdb create-db-cluster-snapshot ^
    --db-cluster-identifier sample-cluster ^
    --db-cluster-snapshot-identifier sample-cluster-snapshot
```

Output from this operation looks something like the following. 

```
{
    "DBClusterSnapshot": {
        "AvailabilityZones": [
            "us-east-1a",
            "us-east-1b",
            "us-east-1c"
        ],
        "DBClusterSnapshotIdentifier": "sample-cluster-snapshot",
        "DBClusterIdentifier": "sample-cluster",
        "SnapshotCreateTime": "2020-04-24T04:59:08.475Z",
        "Engine": "docdb",
        "Status": "creating",
        "Port": 0,
        "VpcId": "vpc-abc0123",
        "ClusterCreateTime": "2020-01-10T22:13:38.261Z",
        "MasterUsername": "master-user",
        "EngineVersion": "4.0.0",
        "SnapshotType": "manual",
        "PercentProgress": 0,
        "StorageEncrypted": true,
        "KmsKeyId": "arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:<accountID>:key/sample-key",
        "DBClusterSnapshotArn": "arn:aws:rds:us-east-1:<accountID>:cluster-snapshot:sample-cluster-snapshot"
    }
}
```

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