How to Backup MongoDB Database to Backblaze with bash

Introduction

Backblaze is an online cloud-based object storage service that allows you to store your data in a safe and secure location. It offers simple, affordable, and predictable pricing. Storage is $0.005/GB/Month, with download costs of $0.01/GB.

Using SnapShooter, you can automate MongoDB database backup to Backblaze Bucket easily. SnapShooter provides a simple and user-friendly control panel that helps beginners to control and manage their backups. SnapShooter will work with MongoDB hosted on your own droplets as well as MongoDB-managed databases.

This post will show you how to backup MongoDB to Backblaze Bucket manually and using SnapShooter.

Create your Backblaze Bucket

First, you will need to create a new bucket on the Backblaze website. Follow the below steps to create a new bucket on the Backblaze:

Step 1 - Sign in to your Backblaze account and click on the Bucket in the left pane to create a new Bucket.

Step 2 - Click on the Create a Bucket button. You should see the following page:

Step 3 - Provide all required information and click on the Create a Bucket button. Once the Bucket is created, you should see the following page:

Note down the Backblaze Bucket URL from the above image. You will need it later in this article.

Create Your Backblaze Credentials

In order to create backups with Backblaze, you will need to create the credentials to access it.

Step 1 - On the Backblaze dashboard, click on the "App Keys" in the left pane as shown below:

Step 2 - Now, click on "Add a new Application Key" button. You should see the following page:

Step 3 - Provide all required details and click on the Create New Key button. You should see the following page:

Note down the keyID, and applicationKey from the above image. You will need both to integrate Backblaze with the application.

Backup MongoDB to Backblaze Bucket Manually

In this section, we will show you how to back up a MongoDB database from your server to the Backblaze Bucket using the S3cmd tool.

Install S3cmd

Before starting, you will need to install the S3cmd tool on the server from where you want to back up your MongoDB database.

S3cmd is a free and open-source command-line tool that allows you to upload, download and manage data in Backblaze Bucket and other cloud storage service providers. Follow the below steps to install the S3cmd to your server.

First, install the Python and other dependencies by running the following command:

apt-get install python3 python3-setuptools curl -y

Next, download the latest version of S3cmd using the following command:

curl -LO https://github.com/s3tools/s3cmd/releases/download/v2.2.0/s3cmd-2.2.0.tar.gz

Next, extract the downloaded file with the following command:

tar -xvzf s3cmd-2.2.0.tar.gz

Next, navigate to the extracted directory and install it using the following command:

cd s3cmd-2.2.0
python3 setup.py install

Once the S3cmd is installed, verify the S3cmd version using the following command:

s3cmd --version

You will get the following output:

s3cmd version 2.2.0

Configure S3cmd to Connect Backblaze Bucket

Next, you will need to configure the S3cmd using the Backblaze Access key and Secret key. You can configure it using the following command:

s3cmd --configure

You will be asked to provide your Backblaze Access Key, Secret Key, Region, and Endpoint as shown below:

Enter new values or accept defaults in brackets with Enter.
Refer to user manual for detailed description of all options.
 
Access key and Secret key are your identifiers for Amazon S3. Leave them empty for using the env variables.
Access Key: 004d55130756c060000000003
Secret Key: K0042u1+4azolEAs5UuvLJN9dBSF1XE
Default Region [US]: us-west-004
 
Use "s3.amazonaws.com" for S3 Endpoint and not modify it to the target Amazon S3.
S3 Endpoint [s3.amazonaws.com]: s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com
 
Use "%(bucket)s.s3.amazonaws.com" to the target Amazon S3. "%(bucket)s" and "%(location)s" vars can be used
if the target S3 system supports dns based buckets.
DNS-style bucket+hostname:port template for accessing a bucket [%(bucket)s.s3.amazonaws.com]: %(bucket)s.s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com
 
Encryption password is used to protect your files from reading
by unauthorized persons while in transfer to S3
Encryption password: asd
Path to GPG program [/usr/bin/gpg]:
 
When using secure HTTPS protocol all communication with Amazon S3
servers is protected from 3rd party eavesdropping. This method is
slower than plain HTTP, and can only be proxied with Python 2.7 or newer
Use HTTPS protocol [Yes]:
 
On some networks all internet access must go through a HTTP proxy.
Try setting it here if you can't connect to S3 directly
HTTP Proxy server name:
 
New settings:
  Access Key: 004d55130756c060000000003
  Secret Key: K0042u1+4azolEAs5UuvLJN9dBSF1XE
  Default Region: us-west-004
  S3 Endpoint: s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com
  DNS-style bucket+hostname:port template for accessing a bucket: %(bucket)s.s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com
  Encryption password: asd
  Path to GPG program: /usr/bin/gpg
  Use HTTPS protocol: True
  HTTP Proxy server name:
  HTTP Proxy server port: 0
 
Test access with supplied credentials? [Y/n] Y
Please wait, attempting to list all buckets...
Success. Your access key and secret key worked fine :-)
 
Now verifying that encryption works...
Success. Encryption and decryption worked fine :-)
 
Save settings? [y/N] Y
Configuration saved to '/root/.s3cfg'

Once the S3cmd is configured, you can verify your bucket information using the following command:

s3cmd info s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/

You will get the following output:

s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/ (bucket):
   Location:  us-west-004
   Payer:     none
   Expiration Rule: none
   Policy:    none
   CORS:      none
   ACL:       d55130756c06: FULL_CONTROL

Use S3cmd to Backup MongoDB to Backblaze Bucket

At this point, S3cmd is installed and configured to manage the Backblaze.

First, go to the server from where you want to back up your MongoDB database, then log in to the MongoDB using the following command:

mongo

Once you are logged in, list all MongoDB databases using the following command:

> show dbs

You will get all databases in the following output:

admin   0.000GB
config  0.000GB
local   0.000GB
testdb  0.000GB

Now, exit from the MongoDB shell using the following command:

> exit

Now, backup all MongoDB databases to the /mnt directory using the following command:

mongodump --out /mnt/

Output:

2022-03-28T16:00:29.185+0000    writing admin.system.version to /mnt/admin/system.version.bson
2022-03-28T16:00:29.186+0000    done dumping admin.system.version (1 document)
2022-03-28T16:00:29.187+0000    writing admin.movie to /mnt/admin/movie.bson
2022-03-28T16:00:29.189+0000    done dumping admin.movie (2 documents)
2022-03-28T16:00:29.189+0000    writing testdb.movie to /mnt/testdb/movie.bson
2022-03-28T16:00:29.189+0000    writing testdb.inventory to /mnt/testdb/inventory.bson
2022-03-28T16:00:29.190+0000    done dumping testdb.inventory (1 document)
2022-03-28T16:00:29.195+0000    done dumping testdb.movie (2 documents)

Next, run the S3cmd command to copy the testdb database directory to the Backblaze Bucket:

tar -czvf - /mnt/testdb | s3cmd put - s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/testdb.tar.gz

Output:

/mnt/testdb/
/mnt/testdb/movie.bson
/mnt/testdb/inventory.metadata.json
/mnt/testdb/movie.metadata.json
/mnt/testdb/inventory.bson
upload: '<stdin>' -> 's3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/testdb.tar.gz'  [part 1 of -, 542B] [1 of 1]
 542 of 542   100% in    0s     4.44 KB/s  done

Next, run the S3cmd command to copy the admin database directory to the Backblaze Bucket:

tar -czvf - /mnt/admin | s3cmd put - s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/admin.tar.gz

Output:

/mnt/admin/
/mnt/admin/system.version.bson
/mnt/admin/movie.bson
/mnt/admin/movie.metadata.json
/mnt/admin/system.version.metadata.json
upload: '<stdin>' -> 's3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/admin.tar.gz'  [part 1 of -, 506B] [1 of 1]
 506 of 506   100% in    0s     9.57 KB/s  done

You can now verify all database backups on the Backblaze Bucket using the following command:

s3cmd ls s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/

You will get the following output:

2022-03-28 16:14          506  s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/admin.tar.gz
2022-03-28 16:14          542  s3://snapshooter-mongo-backup/testdb.tar.gz

You can also log in to the Backblaze Bucket and verify your backup files as shown below: