# Backup and Restore Sharded Clusters

The following tutorials describe backup and restoration for sharded clusters:

To use `mongodump` and `mongorestore` as a backup strategy for sharded clusters, you must stop the sharded cluster balancer and use the `fsync` command or the `db.fsyncLock()` method on `mongos` to block writes on the cluster during backups.

Sharded clusters can also use one of the following coordinated backup and restore processes, which maintain the atomicity guarantees of transactions across shards:

- MongoDB Atlas

- MongoDB Cloud Manager

- MongoDB Ops Manager

Use file system snapshots back up each component in the sharded cluster individually. The procedure involves stopping the cluster balancer. If your system configuration allows file system backups, this might be more efficient than using MongoDB tools.

Create backups using `mongodump` to back up each component in the cluster individually.

Limit the operation of the cluster balancer to provide a window for regular backup operations.

An outline of the procedure and consideration for restoring an *entire* sharded cluster from backup.

