What is mbuffer and How It Can Be Useful

When working with large data transfers in Linux — for example, copying databases, streaming backups, or piping data over the network — you might face performance bottlenecks.
This is where mbuffer comes in.

What is mbuffer?

mbuffer (short for media buffer) is a tool that adds a high-performance buffer between a producer (like tar, dd, pg_dump) and a consumer (like ssh, gzip, disk).
It works like a smart middleman: it temporarily stores data in memory and forwards it more smoothly.

Why use mbuffer?

• Smoothing speed differences — if the source produces data faster than the destination can consume, mbuffer prevents slowdowns.
• Visualization — mbuffer shows a progress bar, speed, ETA, which is very handy.
• Optimized throughput — using memory buffering can drastically increase effective transfer speed.
• Useful for backups — when sending backups over ssh, you can avoid stalls and see the progress.

Example: Using mbuffer for backup over SSH

pg_dump mydb | mbuffer -m 1G | ssh user@remote "mbuffer -m 1G > backup.sql"

Here:

• pg_dump produces data.
• mbuffer buffers it in memory (1 GB).
• Data goes over SSH.
• On the other side, mbuffer receives and writes to disk smoothly.

Conclusion

mbuffer is like a shock absorber for your data streams. It helps prevent stalls, shows you real-time stats, and can significantly improve performance during large transfers. If you deal with backups, database dumps, or heavy data pipelines, adding mbuffer can save time and nerves.