Modify Collection

You can rename a collection or change its settings. This page focuses on how to modify a collection.

Rename Collection

You can rename a collection as follows.

from pymilvus import MilvusClient

client = MilvusClient(
    uri="http://localhost:19530",
    token="root:Milvus"
)

client.rename_collection(
    old_name="my_collection",
    new_name="my_new_collection"
)

import io.milvus.v2.service.collection.request.RenameCollectionReq;
import io.milvus.v2.client.ConnectConfig;
import io.milvus.v2.client.MilvusClientV2;

String CLUSTER_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost:19530";
String TOKEN = "root:Milvus";

// 1. Connect to Milvus server
ConnectConfig connectConfig = ConnectConfig.builder()
    .uri(CLUSTER_ENDPOINT)
    .token(TOKEN)
    .build();
    
MilvusClientV2 client = new MilvusClientV2(connectConfig);

RenameCollectionReq renameCollectionReq = RenameCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .newCollectionName("my_new_collection")
        .build();

client.renameCollection(renameCollectionReq);

import { MilvusClient, DataType } from "@zilliz/milvus2-sdk-node";

const address = "http://localhost:19530";
const token = "root:Milvus";
const client = new MilvusClient({address, token});

const res = await client.renameCollection({
    oldName: "my_collection",
    newName: "my_new_collection"
});

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"

    "github.com/milvus-io/milvus/client/v2/milvusclient"
)

ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
defer cancel()

milvusAddr := "localhost:19530"
token := "root:Milvus"

client, err := milvusclient.New(ctx, &milvusclient.ClientConfig{
    Address: milvusAddr,
    APIKey:  token,
})
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}
defer client.Close(ctx)

err = client.RenameCollection(ctx, milvusclient.NewRenameCollectionOption("my_collection", "my_new_collection"))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

export CLUSTER_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:19530"
export TOKEN="root:Milvus"

curl --request POST \
--url "${CLUSTER_ENDPOINT}/v2/vectordb/collections/rename" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "newCollectionName": "my_new_collection"
}'

Set Collection Properties

You can modify collection-level properties after a collection is created.

Supported properties

Property	Description
collection.ttl.seconds	If the data of a collection needs to be deleted after a specific period, consider setting its Time-To-Live (TTL) in seconds. Once the TTL times out, Milvus deletes all entities from the collection. The deletion is asynchronous, indicating that searches and queries are still possible before the deletion is complete. For details, refer to Set Collection TTL.
mmap.enabled	Memory mapping (Mmap) enables direct memory access to large files on disk, allowing Milvus to store indexes and data in both memory and hard drives. This approach helps optimize data placement policy based on access frequency, expanding storage capacity for collections without impacting search performance. For details, refer to Use mmap.
partitionkey.isolation	With Partition Key Isolation enabled, Milvus groups entities based on the Partition Key value and creates a separate index for each of these groups. Upon receiving a search request, Milvus locates the index based on the Partition Key value specified in the filtering condition and restricts the search scope within the entities included in the index, thus avoiding scanning irrelevant entities during the search and greatly enhancing the search performance. For details, refer to Use Partition Key Isolation.
dynamicfield.enabled	Enables the dynamic field for collections that were created without enabling it. Once enabled, you can insert entities with fields not defined in the original schema. For details, refer to Dynamic Field.
allow_insert_auto_id	Whether to allow a collection to accept user-provided primary key values when AutoID has been enabled for the collection. When set to "true": Inserts, upserts, and bulk imports use the user-provided primary key if present; otherwise, primary key values are auto-generated. When set to "false": User-provided primary key values are rejected or ignored and primary key values are always auto-generated. The default is "false".

Example 1: Set collection TTL

The following code snippet demonstrates how to set collection TTL.

from pymilvus import MilvusClient

client.alter_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    properties={"collection.ttl.seconds": 60}
)

import io.milvus.v2.service.collection.request.AlterCollectionReq;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("collection.ttl.seconds", "60");

AlterCollectionReq alterCollectionReq = AlterCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .properties(properties)
        .build();

client.alterCollection(alterCollectionReq);

res = await client.alterCollection({
    collection_name: "my_collection",
    properties: {
        "collection.ttl.seconds": 60
    }
})

err = client.AlterCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewAlterCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection").WithProperty(common.CollectionTTLConfigKey, 60))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

export CLUSTER_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:19530"
export TOKEN="root:Milvus"

curl --request POST \
--url "${CLUSTER_ENDPOINT}/v2/vectordb/collections/alter_properties" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "collectionName": "test_collection",
    "properties": {
        "collection.ttl.seconds": 60
    }
}'

Example 2: Enable mmap

The following code snippet demonstrates how to enable mmap.

from pymilvus import MilvusClient

client.alter_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    properties={"mmap.enabled": True}
)

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("mmap.enabled", "True");

AlterCollectionReq alterCollectionReq = AlterCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .properties(properties)
        .build();

client.alterCollection(alterCollectionReq);

await client.alterCollectionProperties({
    collection_name: "my_collection",
    properties: {
        "mmap.enabled": true
    }
});

err = client.AlterCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewAlterCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection").WithProperty(common.MmapEnabledKey, true))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

# restful
curl -X POST "http://localhost:19530/v2/vectordb/collections/alter_properties" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "properties": {
      "mmap.enabled": "true"
    }
  }'

Example 3: Enable partition key

The following code snippet demonstrates how to enable the partition key.

from pymilvus import MilvusClient

client.alter_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    properties={"partitionkey.isolation": True}
)

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("partitionkey.isolation", "True");

AlterCollectionReq alterCollectionReq = AlterCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .properties(properties)
        .build();

client.alterCollection(alterCollectionReq);

await client.alterCollectionProperties({
    collection_name: "my_collection",
    properties: {
        "partitionkey.isolation": true
    }
});

err = client.AlterCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewAlterCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection").WithProperty(common.PartitionKeyIsolationKey, true))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

# restful
curl -X POST "http://localhost:19530/v2/vectordb/collections/alter_properties" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "properties": {
      "partitionkey.isolation": "true"
    }
  }'

Example 4: Enable dynamic field

The following code snippet demonstrates how to enable the dynamic field.

from pymilvus import MilvusClient

client.alter_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    properties={"dynamicfield.enabled": True}
)

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("dynamicfield.enabled", "True");

AlterCollectionReq alterCollectionReq = AlterCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .properties(properties)
        .build();

client.alterCollection(alterCollectionReq);

await client.alterCollectionProperties({
    collection_name: "my_collection",
    properties: {
        "dynamicfield.enabled": true
    }
});

err = client.AlterCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewAlterCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection").WithProperty(common.EnableDynamicSchemaKey, true))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

# restful
curl -X POST "http://localhost:19530/v2/vectordb/collections/alter_properties" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "properties": {
      "dynamicfield.enabled": "true"
    }
  }'

Example 5: Enable allow_insert_auto_id

The allow_insert_auto_id property allows a collection with AutoID enabled to accept user-provided primary key values during insert, upsert, and bulk import. When set to “true”, Milvus uses the user-provided primary key value if present; otherwise it auto-generates. Default is “false”.

The example below shows how to enable allow_insert_auto_id:

client.alter_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    properties={"allow_insert_auto_id": "true"}
)
# After enabling, inserts with a PK column will use that PK; otherwise Milvus auto-generates.

Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
properties.put("allow_insert_auto_id", "True");

AlterCollectionReq alterCollectionReq = AlterCollectionReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .properties(properties)
        .build();

client.alterCollection(alterCollectionReq);

await client.alterCollectionProperties({
    collection_name: "my_collection",
    properties: {
        "allow_insert_auto_id": true
    }
});

err = client.AlterCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewAlterCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection").WithProperty(common.AllowInsertAutoIDKey, true))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

# restful
curl -X POST "http://localhost:19530/v2/vectordb/collections/alter_properties" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  -d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "properties": {
      "allow_insert_auto_id": "true"
    }
  }'

Drop Collection Properties

You can also reset a collection property by dropping it as follows.

client.drop_collection_properties(
    collection_name="my_collection",
    property_keys=[
        "collection.ttl.seconds"
    ]
)

client.dropCollectionProperties(DropCollectionPropertiesReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .propertyKeys(Collections.singletonList("collection.ttl.seconds"))
        .build());

client.dropCollectionProperties({
    collection_name:"my_collection",
    properties: ['collection.ttl.seconds'],
});

err = client.DropCollectionProperties(ctx, milvusclient.NewDropCollectionPropertiesOption("my_collection", common.CollectionTTLConfigKey))
if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    // handle error
}

curl --request POST \
--url "${CLUSTER_ENDPOINT}/v2/vectordb/collections/drop_properties" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "collectionName": "my_collection",
    "propertyKeys": [
        "collection.ttl.seconds"
    ]
}'