Snapshots

A snapshot is a comprehensive capture of client data from the MX platform, offering a view of the platform at a specific point in time. Snapshot files use the same fields and format as MX's Reporting API files. The key difference between snapshots and reporting files is that while reporting files are broken into separate files based on actions such as created, updated, and deleted, snapshot files contain a full data picture packaged in a single set of files.

Use Cases

Snapshots have several use cases, including the following:

• Data baseline: Snapshots serve as a starting point for those implementing the Reporting API who need a baseline of existing data.
• Comprehensive data review: You can use snapshots to get a full view of all your data, including users who may be inactive or have no data on the platform.
• Data analysis: You can perform further analysis, identify patterns, and generate reports based on the data within the snapshot. Common uses include identifying inactive users or users without associated data, or gathering a list of all users and their relevant attributes.

What's Included

A snapshot may include any of the following resources:

• Accounts
• Devices
• Goals
• Members
• Notification Profiles
• Transactions (with optional filters for the past 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, or 24 months, or all transactions)
• Users

You can determine which resources to include in the snapshot. The snapshot contains all existing data for each included resource, with the exception of Transactions, where you can choose the time range of data you need.

Download a Snapshot

MX must generate the snapshot before it can be downloaded. This process can take several days depending on the amount of data on the platform. To keep file sizes reasonable for downloading, multiple files may be generated for each resource. Once snapshots have been generated, we provide you with a GUID which can be used to download the snapshot files.

To download a snapshot, you must use the Snapshots API.

Once you receive your snapshot GUID, follow these steps to download the snapshot:

1. Use the Snapshot API's List Snapshot File URLs endpoint with the MX-provided unique snapshot GUID (like CSS-1234) to retrieve a list of URLs for the individual files that make up the snapshot.
2. Call the Download Snapshots endpoint for each file URL returned in the previous step to download the snapshot data.
3. Unzip the compressed .gz file using gunzip. The extracted files will now be in Avro format.

info

Snapshots must be downloaded using the provided API endpoints. MX does not deliver snapshots by any other method.

Converting Snapshot Files

Snapshot files are in Avro format, which is the same format used for Reporting API files. To convert these files, follow the same process as converting reporting files.

More information about Avro can be found on the official Avro documentation page.

warning

Snapshot files are automatically purged from the MX system 30 days from the generation date.