Online Archive query performance optimization

Parent: DATE Criteria · Published reference · snapshot 2026-10-15 · viability 3.80 / 5 (research)

Depth-first rabbithole dossier for Online Archive query performance optimization; source-anchored research pack.

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How it works

[low] A flag indicates whether the provider waits for the online archive state to reach IDLE or ACTIVE when creating an archive, defaulting to false. Sources: https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/mongodbatlas/api-docs/onlinearchive/ [source]
[low] The connection mechanism for Atlas Data Federation is always MONGODB-X509 in the Atlas cluster audit logs. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] The archiving process previously ran every five minutes; if you configure a scheduled archiving window, it must be at least two hours so the archive process can work through any accrued backlog. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/enhancing-atlas-online-archive-data-expiration-scheduled-archiving [source]
[low] The day of the month when the scheduled archive starts is only provided when the schedule type is MONTHLY. Sources: https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/mongodbatlas/api-docs/onlinearchive/ [source]

Measurements and reference values

[low] Atlas charges $5.00 per TB of processed data, with a 10 MB minimum processed data per query. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/billing/online-archive.md [source]

Problems, failure modes and limitations

[low] Once an Online Archive is created, you cannot modify the namespace, date field, or storage region. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md [source]
[low] With the existing version of Online Archive, latency to list partitions and querying time increases with more TBs of data in the archive. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/community/forums/t/slow-queries-when-using-online-archive-connection/216676 [source]
[low] If the date_field value does not exist in the collection, the online archive state remains pending forever, and the field cannot be updated, requiring a destroy operation due to the known error ONLINE_ARCHIVE_CANNOT_MODIFY_FIELD. Sources: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[low] When processed data reaches a configured limit, Atlas Data Federation stops executing new queries and returns an error to the client application. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Once data is deleted from the archive, it cannot be recovered, so retention rules must be defined carefully. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/enhancing-atlas-online-archive-data-expiration-scheduled-archiving [source]

Comparisons and alternatives

[low] The new version of Online Archive improves querying performance and incorporates storage optimization and rebalancing techniques, showing good performance improvements compared to the previous version. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/community/forums/t/slow-queries-when-using-online-archive-connection/216676 [source]

Facts and statements

[medium] Atlas Online Archive optimizes storage and query costs by archiving infrequently accessed data to cloud object storage, available only on M10 and greater clusters. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md, https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/cli/current/command/atlas-clusters-onlineArchives-create.md [source]
[medium] Online Archive inherits all Atlas Data Federation limitations, including the lack of support for $vectorSearch, field-order sensitive queries, and federated queries across cloud providers. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md, https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Atlas Data Federation acts as a proxy forwarding queries to Atlas, improving performance and reducing cost by not scanning data into its virtual collection, though this optimization is unavailable for collections mapped to multiple Atlas collections. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Atlas Data Federation uses partitions created during Online Archive setup, where the order of fields is important as data is optimized for queries by the first field, followed by the second, and so on. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Online Archive performance is optimized through a new storage engine that captures metadata during archival to minimize data scans, but only archives created on or after 06/07/2023 initially see these improvements. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/company/blog/product-release-announcements/new-online-archive-performance-improvements-enhanced-metrics [source]
[medium] Atlas creates two federated database instances for an Online Archive: one for the archive only and one for the cluster and archive, using Atlas Data Federation to enable read-only queries across both. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md, https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md [source]
[low] Online Archive is read-only and does not support deleting individual documents; to erase personal data, you must restore the data to the cluster, delete it there, and then delete the online archive. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md [source]
[low] MongoDB charges a fee for each partition queried in the archive, with Atlas running operations to find up to 1000 partitions per query operation. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]
[medium] Five days after deleting an online archive, Atlas automatically deletes all files and metadata on the online archive storage. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/overview.md, https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]
[low] If a database or collection configured for online archive is dropped, the archived data continues to exist in the archive. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]
[low] As of April 2023, a MongoDB forum reply described Atlas Online Archive data expiration as a Preview feature. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/community/forums/t/online-archival-to-delete-documents/222323 [source]
[low] The collection must exist before performing an online archive. Sources: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[high] Valid online archive statuses are Pending, Archiving, Idle, Pausing, Paused, Orphaned, and Deleted. Sources: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md, https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/mongodbatlas/api-docs/onlinearchive/ [source]
[low] The state of the online archive is required for pausing an active archive or resuming a paused archive. Sources: https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/mongodbatlas/api-docs/onlinearchive/ [source]
[low] The cloud service provider label identifies where archived data is stored; AZURE may be selected only if Azure is the cluster's provider and no AWS online archive has been created for the cluster. Sources: https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/mongodbatlas/api-docs/onlinearchive/ [source]
[low] If you delete an online archive before removing time series buckets from the cluster, the buckets remain on the cluster, and delete operations on the collection return a deletedCount of 0 for those documents. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]
[low] If the collection has another active online archive, the resume request fails. Sources: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[low] If a cluster already has an Active online archive with the same archiving rule for the same database and collection, the operation fails, but if the existing archive is Paused or Deleted, the new archive is created. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md [source]
[low] Before configuring an Online Archive, ensure the Atlas cluster is healthy; if one node is down, the archive remains in PENDING status until the cluster is fully operational. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md [source]
[low] Queries against archived data are generally slower than cluster queries; blocking queries exhibit the slowest storage performance, while streaming queries exhibit the highest performing storage characteristics. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]
[low] You can run up to 30 simultaneous queries on your federated database instance. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Atlas Data Federation uses columnar storage that does not preserve field order, so it does not support field-order sensitive queries like embedded document equality or sorting on a document field. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Queries using all partition fields in the defined order target specific partitions to minimize data scanned, while queries on fields without partitions are less performant. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] Data Federation creates one partition for each URL in your collection. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] The archive window can be scheduled to repeat every day, every week, or every month. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/enhancing-atlas-online-archive-data-expiration-scheduled-archiving [source]
[low] Existing archives created before 06/07/2023 continue to function without the new improvements, and Atlas plans to migrate them to the new backend storage service over the coming year. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/company/blog/product-release-announcements/new-online-archive-performance-improvements-enhanced-metrics [source]

Related concepts

Archive — is a part of Online Archive query performance optimization
Online — is a part of Online Archive query performance optimization
query — is a part of Online Archive query performance optimization
performance — is a part of Online Archive query performance optimization
optimization — is a part of Online Archive query performance optimization

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