Partition fields constraints for DATE rules

Parent: DATE Criteria · Published reference · snapshot 2026-10-15

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Structure and components

[high] When using the DATE criteria, the date field must be specified as part of the partition keys and defaults to the first position in the partition sequence. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md, 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]

How it works

[low] The order of fields in the partition is important because 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]

Problems, failure modes and limitations

[high] You cannot specify field names that contain periods (.) for partitioning, and the value of a partition field can be up to a maximum of 700 characters. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[low] You cannot modify the partition fields or structure from the Atlas UI or API once the online archive is created. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/manage-online-archive.md [source]

Facts and statements

[high] You can specify up to two frequently queried fields for partitioning, or up to three fields if one is the date field, separated by a comma. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/cli/current/command/atlas-clusters-onlineArchives-create.md, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[high] Atlas Data Federation is less performant for queries on fields that do not have partitions, and queries not containing specified fields require a full collection scan of all archived documents. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mongodb/terraform-provider-mongodbatlas/master/docs/resources/online_archive.md [source]
[low] Queries using all partition fields in the order they were defined target specific partitions and minimize the amount of data scanned. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/data-federation/query/query-federated-database.md [source]
[low] As of April 2023, a MongoDB forum reply listed the supported partition attribute types as date, int, long, objectId, string and uuid; the current Atlas configuration docs list date, double, int, long, objectId, string and boolean. (verified as of 2026-10-15) Sources: https://mongodb.com/community/forums/t/online-archive-epoch-millis-in-a-field-type-double/220516 [source]
[high] An archive must have at least one partition field, and the date field is typically one partition. Sources: https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/online-archive/configure-online-archive-standard.md, https://dev.to/dvorlandi/atlas-online-archive-for-large-collections-keep-hot-data-hot-33fm [source]
[low] Partitions are hard to change later, so you must define your rules carefully. Sources: https://dev.to/dvorlandi/atlas-online-archive-for-large-collections-keep-hot-data-hot-33fm [source]

Related concepts

Partition — is a part of Partition fields constraints for DATE rules
fields — is a part of Partition fields constraints for DATE rules
for — is a part of Partition fields constraints for DATE rules
DATE — is a part of Partition fields constraints for DATE rules
rules — is a part of Partition fields constraints for DATE rules

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