ARTICLE
Set-up data extraction with Mambu API
16 May 2023
Data extraction is an important part of data management within any organisation. This blog goes into the details on how to extract existing data out of Mambu along with some best practices.
Data extractions are standard practice for Mambu customers and fall within two main categories:
1. Incremental data extractions necessary to build transaction reconciliation reports, statutory reports (regulatory, tax and AFC reports), to comply with data access requests as required by the applicable privacy laws or for analytical purposes,
2. Bulk extractions for regulatory & auditing purposes, data migration between systems, or to fix corrupted data related issues.
Mambu offers its users the ability to perform extractions programmatically through its API. Mambu’s API is a RESTful API, and the backup functionality is exposed through the API endpoint /backup. Using the API, users can configure, trigger, and download backup files.
How to extract data from Mambu?
- A detailed how-to is available in our user guide. But in a nutshell, data extraction can be triggered manually following these steps:
- Define the optional callback URL in the request body for when the database download is complete.
- Define specific tables to backup using the tables array in the request body. Check the Data Dictionary for a list of available tables.
- If all the defined tables have a creationdate, define a creationBackupFromDate value in the request body in the yyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ssZ format.
Next, you can use the downloadBackup operation. The API returns a download link that you can use to download the backup file.
Data extractions can also be triggered automatically after End of Day (EOD) jobs are executed. By default, Mambu makes daily internal backups of the production database and retains it for seven days for compliance reasons and disaster recovery.
Data extraction best practices
To extract data from Mambu efficiently and avoid errors, follow these best practices:
1. Use API v2 endpoint
API v2 is the preferred option to trigger database backups, especially for large data exports. A detailed step-by-step guide is available in our API reference here.
2. Opt for incremental backups when possible
Incremental backups will massively reduce the backup execution time, so unless you need the whole database, only select the specific tables you need to extract. Additionally, if all the tables have a creation date, define a creationBackupFromDate value. This will also further decrease the execution time.
For databases with more than one terabyte of data, this is strongly recommended to avoid timeout errors.
Did you know?
When you select specific tables and timeframes during data extraction, the process can be significantly accelerated. By using this simple tip, you can cut down a process that might have taken 4 hours to just under 13 minutes.
When you select specific tables and timeframes during data extraction, the process can be significantly accelerated. By using this simple tip, you can cut down a process that might have taken 4 hours to just under 13 minutes.
3. Allow wait-time between backups
For optimal performance, wait for at least 24 hours before triggering another database backup to ensure the backup process is efficient.
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