docker exec -it mongodb mongo docker cp mongodb:dump/ce5-meteor . If deployed with mup, you are in luck. You can find the steps here: https://github.com/xpressabhi/mup-data-backup Here are the steps again: MongoDB Data Backup deployed via mup These commands run well only if meteor deployed with mup tool. Mup creates docker for mongodb hence taking backup becomes easy with these commands. Backup Take backup of running app data from docker then copy to local folder out of docker. docker exec -it mongodb mongodump --archive= /root/m ongodump. gz --gzip docker cp mongodb : /root/m ongodump. gz mongodump_$ (date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S). gz Copy backup to server Move data to another server/local machine or a backup location scp /path/to/dumpfile root@ serverip : /path/ to/backup Delete old data from meteor deployment Get into mongo console running in docker then drop current database before getting new data. docker exec -it mongodb mongo appName db. runCommand ( { dropDatabase : 1 } ) Rest