refreshExternalCollection()

This operation triggers a refresh job that pulls data from an external source into a Milvus collection. Returns a job ID that can be passed to getRefreshExternalCollectionProgress() to track progress.

public RefreshExternalCollectionResp refreshExternalCollection(RefreshExternalCollectionReq request)

Request Syntax

refreshExternalCollection(RefreshExternalCollectionReq.builder()
    .databaseName(String databaseName)
    .collectionName(String collectionName)
    .externalSource(String externalSource)
    .externalSpec(JsonObject externalSpec)
    .build()
);

BUILDER METHODS:

• databaseName(String databaseName) -

  The name of the database. Defaults to the current database if not specified.

• collectionName(String collectionName) -

  [REQUIRED]

  The name of the collection to refresh.

• externalSource(String externalSource) -

  The external data source identifier (e.g., "s3", "oss").

• externalSpec(JsonObject externalSpec) -

  A JSON object describing the external storage configuration. Fields depend on externalSource (typically include endpoint, bucket, path, credentials).

RETURNS:

RefreshExternalCollectionResp

The response carries a single field:

• jobId (long) - The numeric ID of the newly started refresh job. Persist this value to query progress with getRefreshExternalCollectionProgress().

EXCEPTIONS:

• MilvusClientException

  This exception will be raised when any error occurs during this operation.

Example

import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import io.milvus.v2.service.utility.request.RefreshExternalCollectionReq;
import io.milvus.v2.service.utility.response.RefreshExternalCollectionResp;

JsonObject spec = new JsonObject();
spec.addProperty("endpoint", "https://s3.amazonaws.com");
spec.addProperty("bucket", "my-bucket");
spec.addProperty("path", "data/snapshots/2026-05-01/");

RefreshExternalCollectionResp resp = client.refreshExternalCollection(
    RefreshExternalCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .externalSource("s3")
        .externalSpec(spec)
        .build()
);
long jobId = resp.getJobId();
System.out.println("Started refresh job: " + jobId);