Methods and systems for backing up a search index in a multi-tenant database environment

An index to be backed up in a multitenant environment is identified. The multitenant environment includes data for multiple client entities, each identified by a tenant identifier (ID) having one of one or more users associated with the tenant ID. Users of each of multiple client identities can only access data identified by a tenant ID associated with the respective client entity. The multitenant environment is a hosted database provided by an entity separate from the client entities, and provides on-demand database service to the client entities. A staged copy of the index to be backed up is created. The staged copy of the index is segmented. The segments are uploaded to a pre-selected location.