Database Backups

Implement comprehensive, automated database backup strategies with tested recovery procedures.

When to Use

• You are deploying a new database and need a backup plan from day one.
• You need to automate nightly or hourly backups for PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB.
• You want to ship backups to S3-compatible object storage with retention policies.
• You are building or verifying disaster recovery runbooks.

Prerequisites

• Database client tools installed (pg_dump, mysqldump, mongodump).
• AWS CLI or restic for remote storage.
• cron or systemd timers for scheduling.
• An S3 bucket (or S3-compatible endpoint) for offsite backups.

Backup Types

Type	Description	Frequency	Use Case
Full	Complete database copy	Weekly	Baseline for restores
Incremental	Changes since last backup	Daily	Reduce storage and time
Transaction log / WAL	Continuous log shipping	Continuous	Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
Snapshot	Storage-level snapshot (EBS, ZFS)	Daily	Fast full restores

PostgreSQL Backups

Logical Backup with pg_dump

#!/bin/bash
# pg_backup.sh — PostgreSQL logical backup
set -euo pipefail

DB_NAME="mydb"
DB_USER="backup_user"
DB_HOST="localhost"
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/postgres"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
FILENAME="${BACKUP_DIR}/${DB_NAME}_${DATE}.dump"

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Custom compressed format (recommended for selective restore)
pg_dump -h "$DB_HOST" -U "$DB_USER" -Fc -Z6 "$DB_NAME" > "$FILENAME"

echo "[$(date)] PostgreSQL backup complete: $FILENAME ($(du -h "$FILENAME" | cut -f1))"

Physical Backup with pg_basebackup

#!/bin/bash
# pg_basebackup.sh — PostgreSQL physical backup for PITR
set -euo pipefail

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/postgres/base_$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

pg_basebackup \
  -h localhost \
  -U replicator \
  -D "$BACKUP_DIR" \
  --wal-method=stream \
  --checkpoint=fast \
  --progress \
  --verbose

echo "[$(date)] Base backup complete: $BACKUP_DIR"

PostgreSQL Restore

# Restore from custom-format dump
pg_restore -h localhost -U myapp -d mydb --clean --if-exists /backups/postgres/mydb_20250115_020000.dump

# Restore a single table
pg_restore -h localhost -U myapp -d mydb -t orders /backups/postgres/mydb_20250115_020000.dump

# Restore from plain SQL
psql -h localhost -U myapp -d mydb < /backups/postgres/mydb_20250115.sql

MySQL Backups

Logical Backup with mysqldump

#!/bin/bash
# mysql_backup.sh — MySQL logical backup
set -euo pipefail

DB_NAME="mydb"
DB_USER="backup_user"
DB_PASS="${MYSQL_BACKUP_PASSWORD}"
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/mysql"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
FILENAME="${BACKUP_DIR}/${DB_NAME}_${DATE}.sql.gz"

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

mysqldump -u "$DB_USER" -p"$DB_PASS" \
  --single-transaction \
  --routines \
  --triggers \
  --events \
  "$DB_NAME" | gzip > "$FILENAME"

echo "[$(date)] MySQL backup complete: $FILENAME ($(du -h "$FILENAME" | cut -f1))"

Physical Backup with Percona XtraBackup

#!/bin/bash
# xtrabackup.sh — MySQL physical backup
set -euo pipefail

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/mysql/full_$(date +%Y%m%d)"

xtrabackup --backup \
  --user=backup_user \
  --password="${MYSQL_BACKUP_PASSWORD}" \
  --target-dir="$BACKUP_DIR"

xtrabackup --prepare --target-dir="$BACKUP_DIR"

echo "[$(date)] XtraBackup complete: $BACKUP_DIR"

MySQL Restore

# Restore from compressed mysqldump
gunzip < /backups/mysql/mydb_20250115_020000.sql.gz | mysql -u root -p mydb

# Restore from XtraBackup
sudo systemctl stop mysql
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/*
xtrabackup --move-back --target-dir=/backups/mysql/full_20250115
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql
sudo systemctl start mysql

MongoDB Backups

Logical Backup with mongodump

#!/bin/bash
# mongo_backup.sh — MongoDB backup
set -euo pipefail

MONGO_URI="mongodb://backup_user:${MONGO_BACKUP_PASSWORD}@localhost:27017"
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/mongodb"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
TARGET="${BACKUP_DIR}/${DATE}"

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Full backup with compression
mongodump --uri="$MONGO_URI" --gzip --out="$TARGET"

echo "[$(date)] MongoDB backup complete: $TARGET"

MongoDB Restore

# Restore all databases
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://admin:secret@localhost:27017" \
  --gzip --drop /backups/mongodb/20250115_020000/

# Restore a single database
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://admin:secret@localhost:27017" \
  --gzip --drop --db mydb /backups/mongodb/20250115_020000/mydb/

# Restore a single collection
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://admin:secret@localhost:27017" \
  --gzip --drop --db mydb --collection users \
  /backups/mongodb/20250115_020000/mydb/users.bson.gz

Upload to S3

#!/bin/bash
# s3_upload.sh — Upload backups to S3
set -euo pipefail

S3_BUCKET="s3://my-backups"
BACKUP_DIR="/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Upload PostgreSQL backup
aws s3 cp "${BACKUP_DIR}/postgres/" "${S3_BUCKET}/postgres/${DATE}/" \
  --recursive --storage-class STANDARD_IA \
  --sse AES256

# Upload MySQL backup
aws s3 cp "${BACKUP_DIR}/mysql/" "${S3_BUCKET}/mysql/${DATE}/" \
  --recursive --storage-class STANDARD_IA \
  --sse AES256

# Upload MongoDB backup
aws s3 cp "${BACKUP_DIR}/mongodb/" "${S3_BUCKET}/mongodb/${DATE}/" \
  --recursive --storage-class STANDARD_IA \
  --sse AES256

echo "[$(date)] S3 upload complete for ${DATE}"

S3 Lifecycle Policy for Retention

{
  "Rules": [
    {
      "ID": "BackupRetention",
      "Status": "Enabled",
      "Filter": { "Prefix": "" },
      "Transitions": [
        { "Days": 30, "StorageClass": "GLACIER" }
      ],
      "Expiration": { "Days": 365 }
    }
  ]
}

aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration \
  --bucket my-backups \
  --lifecycle-configuration file://lifecycle.json

Restic Backup (Encrypted, Deduplicated)

# Initialize a restic repository on S3
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="AKIA..."
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="..."
export RESTIC_PASSWORD="strong_encryption_password"
export RESTIC_REPOSITORY="s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-backups-restic"

restic init

# Backup the local backup directory
restic backup /backups/postgres /backups/mysql /backups/mongodb

# List snapshots
restic snapshots

# Prune old snapshots — keep 7 daily, 4 weekly, 6 monthly
restic forget --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --keep-monthly 6 --prune

# Restore a snapshot
restic restore latest --target /restore/

Cron Schedules

# /etc/cron.d/db-backups

# PostgreSQL: nightly at 02:00
0 2 * * * backup /opt/scripts/pg_backup.sh >> /var/log/backup-pg.log 2>&1

# MySQL: nightly at 02:30
30 2 * * * backup /opt/scripts/mysql_backup.sh >> /var/log/backup-mysql.log 2>&1

# MongoDB: nightly at 03:00
0 3 * * * backup /opt/scripts/mongo_backup.sh >> /var/log/backup-mongo.log 2>&1

# Upload to S3: daily at 04:00
0 4 * * * backup /opt/scripts/s3_upload.sh >> /var/log/backup-s3.log 2>&1

# Local cleanup: keep 7 days of local backups
0 5 * * * backup find /backups -type f -mtime +7 -delete >> /var/log/backup-cleanup.log 2>&1

# Restic prune: weekly on Sunday at 06:00
0 6 * * 0 backup /opt/scripts/restic_prune.sh >> /var/log/backup-restic.log 2>&1

Automated Recovery Testing

#!/bin/bash
# verify_backup.sh — weekly restore test
set -euo pipefail

BACKUP_FILE=$(ls -t /backups/postgres/mydb_*.dump | head -1)

echo "[$(date)] Starting backup verification with $BACKUP_FILE"

# Spin up a temporary PostgreSQL container
docker run -d --name pg-restore-test \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=testuser \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=testpass \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=testdb \
  postgres:16-alpine

# Wait for container to be ready
sleep 5
until docker exec pg-restore-test pg_isready -U testuser; do
  sleep 2
done

# Copy backup into container and restore
docker cp "$BACKUP_FILE" pg-restore-test:/tmp/backup.dump
docker exec pg-restore-test pg_restore -U testuser -d testdb --clean --if-exists /tmp/backup.dump

# Run verification queries
USERS_COUNT=$(docker exec pg-restore-test psql -U testuser -d testdb -tAc "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users;")
ORDERS_COUNT=$(docker exec pg-restore-test psql -U testuser -d testdb -tAc "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM orders;")

echo "[$(date)] Verification: users=$USERS_COUNT, orders=$ORDERS_COUNT"

# Cleanup
docker rm -f pg-restore-test

# Alert on failure
if [ "$USERS_COUNT" -lt 1 ]; then
  echo "ALERT: Backup verification failed — users table is empty" >&2
  exit 1
fi

echo "[$(date)] Backup verification PASSED"

Unified Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# backup_all.sh — unified backup orchestrator
set -euo pipefail

LOG="/var/log/backup-all.log"
ALERT_EMAIL="ops@example.com"
ERRORS=0

log() { echo "[$(date '+%F %T')] $*" | tee -a "$LOG"; }

run_backup() {
  local name="$1" script="$2"
  log "Starting $name backup..."
  if bash "$script" >> "$LOG" 2>&1; then
    log "$name backup succeeded."
  else
    log "ERROR: $name backup FAILED."
    ERRORS=$((ERRORS + 1))
  fi
}

run_backup "PostgreSQL" /opt/scripts/pg_backup.sh
run_backup "MySQL"      /opt/scripts/mysql_backup.sh
run_backup "MongoDB"    /opt/scripts/mongo_backup.sh
run_backup "S3 Upload"  /opt/scripts/s3_upload.sh

if [ "$ERRORS" -gt 0 ]; then
  log "Backup run completed with $ERRORS error(s). Sending alert."
  mail -s "BACKUP ALERT: $ERRORS failure(s)" "$ALERT_EMAIL" < "$LOG"
  exit 1
fi

log "All backups completed successfully."

Best Practices

• 3-2-1 Rule: Keep 3 copies of data, on 2 different media types, with 1 offsite.
• Encrypt backups at rest: Use restic (built-in encryption), AWS SSE, or gpg.
• Test restores regularly: A backup that has never been restored is not a backup.
• Monitor backup jobs: Alert immediately on any failure; do not rely on silent cron jobs.
• Document RTOs and RPOs: Define Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective for each database.
• Version your backup scripts: Store them in Git alongside your infrastructure code.
• Use --single-transaction: For MySQL and PostgreSQL logical backups to get a consistent snapshot.
• Separate backup credentials: Use a dedicated read-only database user for backups.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
pg_dump: too many clients	Backup connection competes with app pool	Schedule during low traffic; increase max_connections by 5 for backup user
mysqldump hangs on large table	Table lock contention	Use --single-transaction (InnoDB) or schedule during maintenance window
mongodump slow on replica	Reading from secondary under load	Use --readPreference=secondaryPreferred and schedule off-peak
S3 upload fails with timeout	Large file over slow connection	Use aws s3 cp --expected-size or multipart with aws s3api
Restic prune takes hours	Too many snapshots accumulated	Run restic forget --prune more frequently; limit snapshot count
Restore fails with "role does not exist"	Backup includes role-dependent objects	Create roles first or use --no-owner --no-privileges on restore

Related Skills

• postgresql - PostgreSQL administration and pg_dump details
• mysql - MySQL administration and mysqldump details
• mongodb - MongoDB administration and mongodump details
• redis - Redis RDB/AOF persistence and backup