Backup and Restore MongoDB database using Stash

Stash 0.9.0+ supports backup and restoration of MongoDB databases. This guide will show you how you can backup and restore your MongoDB database with Stash.

Before You Begin

At first, you need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using Minikube.
Install KubeDB in your cluster following the steps here.
Install Stash in your cluster following the steps here.
Install Stash kubectl plugin following the steps here.
If you are not familiar with how Stash backup and restore MongoDB databases, please check the following guide here.

You have to be familiar with following custom resources:

To keep things isolated, we are going to use a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial. Create demo namespace if you haven’t created yet.

$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created

Backup MongoDB

This section will demonstrate how to backup MongoDB database. Here, we are going to deploy a MongoDB database using KubeDB. Then, we are going to backup this database into a GCS bucket. Finally, we are going to restore the backed up data into another MongoDB database.

Deploy Sample MongoDB Database

Let’s deploy a sample MongoDB database and insert some data into it.

Create MongoDB CRD:

Below is the YAML of a sample MongoDB crd that we are going to create for this tutorial:

apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: MongoDB
metadata:
  name: sample-mongodb
  namespace: demo
spec:
  version: "4.4.26"
  storageType: Durable
  storage:
    storageClassName: "standard"
    accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
    resources:
      requests:
        storage: 1Gi
  terminationPolicy: WipeOut

Create the above MongoDB crd,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2023.12.21/docs/guides/mongodb/backup/logical/standalone/examples/mongodb.yaml
mongodb.kubedb.com/sample-mongodb created

KubeDB will deploy a MongoDB database according to the above specification. It will also create the necessary secrets and services to access the database.

Let’s check if the database is ready to use,

$ kubectl get mg -n demo sample-mongodb
NAME             VERSION       STATUS    AGE
sample-mongodb   4.4.26         Ready   2m9s

The database is Ready. Verify that KubeDB has created a Secret and a Service for this database using the following commands,

$ kubectl get secret -n demo -l=app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mongodb
NAME                  TYPE     DATA   AGE
sample-mongodb-auth   Opaque   2      2m28s

$ kubectl get service -n demo -l=app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mongodb
NAME                 TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)     AGE
sample-mongodb       ClusterIP   10.107.58.222   <none>        27017/TCP   2m48s
sample-mongodb-gvr   ClusterIP   None            <none>        27017/TCP   2m48s

Here, we have to use service sample-mongodb and secret sample-mongodb-auth to connect with the database. KubeDB creates an AppBinding crd that holds the necessary information to connect with the database.

Verify AppBinding:

Verify that the AppBinding has been created successfully using the following command,

$ kubectl get appbindings -n demo
NAME             AGE
sample-mongodb   20m

Let’s check the YAML of the above AppBinding,

$ kubectl get appbindings -n demo sample-mongodb -o yaml

apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
kind: AppBinding
metadata:
  annotations:
    kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration: |
      {"apiVersion":"kubedb.com/v1alpha2","kind":"MongoDB","metadata":{"annotations":{},"name":"sample-mongodb","namespace":"demo"},"spec":{"storage":{"accessModes":["ReadWriteOnce"],"resources":{"requests":{"storage":"1Gi"}},"storageClassName":"standard"},"storageType":"Durable","terminationPolicy":"WipeOut","version":"4.4.26"}}      
  creationTimestamp: "2022-10-26T05:13:07Z"
  generation: 1
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: database
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: sample-mongodb
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kubedb.com
    app.kubernetes.io/name: mongodbs.kubedb.com
  name: sample-mongodb
  namespace: demo
  ownerReferences:
    - apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
      blockOwnerDeletion: true
      controller: true
      kind: MongoDB
      name: sample-mongodb
      uid: 51676df9-682a-40ab-8f99-c6050b35f2f2
  resourceVersion: "580968"
  uid: ca88e369-a15a-4149-9386-24e876c5aa4b
spec:
  appRef:
    apiGroup: kubedb.com
    kind: MongoDB
    name: sample-mongodb
    namespace: demo
  clientConfig:
    service:
      name: sample-mongodb
      port: 27017
      scheme: mongodb
  parameters:
    apiVersion: config.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
    kind: MongoConfiguration
    stash:
      addon:
        backupTask:
          name: mongodb-backup-4.4.6
        restoreTask:
          name: mongodb-restore-4.4.6
  secret:
    name: sample-mongodb-auth
  type: kubedb.com/mongodb
  version: 4.4.26

Stash uses the AppBinding crd to connect with the target database. It requires the following two fields to set in AppBinding’s Spec section.

spec.appRef refers to the underlying application.
spec.clientConfig defines how to communicate with the application.
spec.clientConfig.service.name specifies the name of the service that connects to the database.
spec.secret specifies the name of the secret that holds necessary credentials to access the database.
spec.parameters.stash contains the Stash Addon information that will be used to backup/restore this MongoDB database.
spec.type specifies the types of the app that this AppBinding is pointing to. KubeDB generated AppBinding follows the following format: <app group>/<app resource type>.

Insert Sample Data:

Now, we are going to exec into the database pod and create some sample data. At first, find out the database pod using the following command,

$ kubectl get pods -n demo --selector="app.kubernetes.io/instance=sample-mongodb"
NAME               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
sample-mongodb-0   1/1     Running   0          12m

Now, let’s exec into the pod and create a table,

$ export USER=$(kubectl get secrets -n demo sample-mongodb-auth -o jsonpath='{.data.\username}' | base64 -d)

$ export PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secrets -n demo sample-mongodb-auth -o jsonpath='{.data.\password}' | base64 -d)

$ kubectl exec -it -n demo sample-mongodb-0 -- mongo admin -u $USER -p $PASSWORD

> show dbs
admin  0.000GB
local  0.000GB
mydb   0.000GB

> show users
{
    "_id" : "admin.root",
    "user" : "root",
    "db" : "admin",
    "roles" : [
        {
            "role" : "root",
            "db" : "admin"
        }
    ]
}

> use newdb
switched to db newdb

> db.movie.insert({"name":"batman"});
WriteResult({ "nInserted" : 1 })

> db.movie.find().pretty()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5d19d1cdc93d828f44e37735"), "name" : "batman" }

> exit
bye

Now, we are ready to backup this sample database.

Prepare Backend

We are going to store our backed up data into a GCS bucket. At first, we need to create a secret with GCS credentials then we need to create a Repository crd. If you want to use a different backend, please read the respective backend configuration doc from here.

Create Storage Secret:

Let’s create a secret called gcs-secret with access credentials to our desired GCS bucket,

$ echo -n 'changeit' > RESTIC_PASSWORD
$ echo -n '<your-project-id>' > GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID
$ cat downloaded-sa-key.json > GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_KEY
$ kubectl create secret generic -n demo gcs-secret \
    --from-file=./RESTIC_PASSWORD \
    --from-file=./GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID \
    --from-file=./GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_KEY
secret/gcs-secret created

Create Repository:

Now, crete a Repository using this secret. Below is the YAML of Repository crd we are going to create,

apiVersion: stash.appscode.com/v1alpha1
kind: Repository
metadata:
  name: gcs-repo
  namespace: demo
spec:
  backend:
    gcs:
      bucket: stash-testing
      prefix: demo/mongodb/sample-mongodb
    storageSecretName: gcs-secret

Let’s create the Repository we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2023.12.21/docs/guides/mongodb/backup/logical/standalone/examples/repository.yaml
repository.stash.appscode.com/gcs-repo created

Now, we are ready to backup our database to our desired backend.

Backup

We have to create a BackupConfiguration targeting respective AppBinding crd of our desired database. Then Stash will create a CronJob to periodically backup the database.

Create BackupConfiguration:

Below is the YAML for BackupConfiguration crd to backup the sample-mongodb database we have deployed earlier.,

apiVersion: stash.appscode.com/v1beta1
kind: BackupConfiguration
metadata:
  name: sample-mongodb-backup
  namespace: demo
spec:
  schedule: "*/5 * * * *"
  repository:
    name: gcs-repo
  target:
    ref:
      apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
      kind: AppBinding
      name: sample-mongodb
  retentionPolicy:
    name: keep-last-5
    keepLast: 5
    prune: true

Here,

spec.schedule specifies that we want to backup the database at 5 minutes interval.
spec.target.ref refers to the AppBinding crd that was created for sample-mongodb database.

Let’s create the BackupConfiguration crd we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2023.12.21/docs/guides/mongodb/backup/logical/standalone/examples/backupconfiguration.yaml
backupconfiguration.stash.appscode.com/sample-mongodb-backup created

Verify Backup Setup Successful:

If everything goes well, the phase of the BackupConfiguration should be Ready. The Ready phase indicates that the backup setup is successful. Let’s verify the Phase of the BackupConfiguration,

$ kubectl get backupconfiguration -n demo
NAME                    TASK                    SCHEDULE      PAUSED   PHASE      AGE
sample-mongodb-backup   mongodb-backup-4.4.6    */5 * * * *            Ready      11s

Verify CronJob:

Stash will create a CronJob with the schedule specified in spec.schedule field of BackupConfiguration crd.

Verify that the CronJob has been created using the following command,

$ kubectl get cronjob -n demo
NAME                    SCHEDULE      SUSPEND   ACTIVE   LAST SCHEDULE   AGE
sample-mongodb-backup   */5 * * * *   False     0        <none>          61s

Wait for BackupSession:

The sample-mongodb-backup CronJob will trigger a backup on each schedule by creating a BackpSession crd.

Wait for the next schedule. Run the following command to watch BackupSession crd,

$ kubectl get backupsession -n demo -w
NAME                               INVOKER-TYPE          INVOKER-NAME            PHASE       AGE
sample-mongodb-backup-1561974001   BackupConfiguration   sample-mongodb-backup   Running     5m19s
sample-mongodb-backup-1561974001   BackupConfiguration   sample-mongodb-backup   Succeeded   5m45s

We can see above that the backup session has succeeded. Now, we are going to verify that the backed up data has been stored in the backend.

Verify Backup:

Once a backup is complete, Stash will update the respective Repository crd to reflect the backup. Check that the repository gcs-repo has been updated by the following command,

$ kubectl get repository -n demo gcs-repo
NAME       INTEGRITY   SIZE        SNAPSHOT-COUNT   LAST-SUCCESSFUL-BACKUP   AGE
gcs-repo   true        1.611 KiB   1                33s                      33m

Now, if we navigate to the GCS bucket, we are going to see backed up data has been stored in demo/mongodb/sample-mongodb directory as specified by spec.backend.gcs.prefix field of Repository crd.

Note: Stash keeps all the backed up data encrypted. So, data in the backend will not make any sense until they are decrypted.

Restore MongoDB

You can restore your data into the same database you have backed up from or into a different database in the same cluster or a different cluster. In this section, we are going to show you how to restore in the same database which may be necessary when you have accidentally deleted any data from the running database.

Stop Taking Backup of the Old Database:

At first, let’s stop taking any further backup of the old database so that no backup is taken during restore process. We are going to pause the BackupConfiguration crd that we had created to backup the sample-mongodb database. Then, Stash will stop taking any further backup for this database.

Let’s pause the sample-mongodb-backup BackupConfiguration,

$ kubectl patch backupconfiguration -n demo sample-mongodb-backup --type="merge" --patch='{"spec": {"paused": true}}'
backupconfiguration.stash.appscode.com/sample-mongodb-backup patched

Or you can use the Stash kubectl plugin to pause the BackupConfiguration,

$ kubectl stash pause backup -n demo --backupconfig=sample-mongodb-backup
BackupConfiguration demo/sample-mongodb-backup has been paused successfully.

Now, wait for a moment. Stash will pause the BackupConfiguration. Verify that the BackupConfiguration has been paused,

$ kubectl get backupconfiguration -n demo sample-mongodb-backup
NAME                   TASK                        SCHEDULE      PAUSED   PHASE   AGE
sample-mongodb-backup  mongodb-backup-4.4.6        */5 * * * *   true     Ready   26m

Notice the PAUSED column. Value true for this field means that the BackupConfiguration has been paused.

Simulate Disaster:

Now, let’s simulate an accidental deletion scenario. Here, we are going to exec into the database pod and delete the newdb database we had created earlier.

$ kubectl exec -it -n demo sample-mongodb-0 -- mongo admin -u $USER -p $PASSWORD
> use newdb
switched to db newdb

> db.dropDatabase()
{ "dropped" : "newdb", "ok" : 1 }

> show dbs
admin   0.000GB
config  0.000GB
local   0.000GB

> exit
bye

Create RestoreSession:

Now, we need to create a RestoreSession crd pointing to the AppBinding of sample-mongodb database. Below is the YAML for the RestoreSession crd that we are going to create to restore the backed up data.

apiVersion: stash.appscode.com/v1beta1
kind: RestoreSession
metadata:
  name: sample-mongodb-restore
  namespace: demo
spec:
  repository:
    name: gcs-repo
  target:
    ref:
      apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
      kind: AppBinding
      name: sample-mongodb
  rules:
  - snapshots: [latest]

Here,

spec.repository.name specifies the Repository crd that holds the backend information where our backed up data has been stored.
spec.target.ref refers to the AppBinding crd for the restored-mongodb database.
spec.rules specifies that we are restoring from the latest backup snapshot of the database.

Let’s create the RestoreSession crd we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2023.12.21/docs/guides/mongodb/backup/logical/standalone/examples/restoresession.yaml
restoresession.stash.appscode.com/sample-mongodb-restore created

Once, you have created the RestoreSession crd, Stash will create a job to restore. We can watch the RestoreSession phase to check if the restore process is succeeded or not.

Run the following command to watch RestoreSession phase,

$ kubectl get restoresession -n demo sample-mongodb-restore -w
NAME                     REPOSITORY-NAME   PHASE       AGE
sample-mongodb-restore   gcs-repo          Running     5s
sample-mongodb-restore   gcs-repo          Succeeded   43s

So, we can see from the output of the above command that the restore process succeeded.

Verify Restored Data:

In this section, we are going to verify that the desired data has been restored successfully. We are going to connect to the database and check whether the table we had created earlier is restored or not.

Lets, exec into the database pod and list available tables,

$ kubectl exec -it -n demo sample-mongodb-0 -- mongo admin -u $USER -p $PASSWORD

> show dbs
admin   0.000GB
config  0.000GB
local   0.000GB
newdb   0.000GB

> show users
{
    "_id" : "admin.root",
    "user" : "root",
    "db" : "admin",
    "roles" : [
        {
            "role" : "root",
            "db" : "admin"
        }
    ]
}

> use newdb
switched to db newdb

> db.movie.find().pretty()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("5d19d1cdc93d828f44e37735"), "name" : "batman" }

> exit
bye

So, from the above output, we can see the database newdb that we had created earlier is restored.

Cleanup

To cleanup the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:

kubectl delete -n demo restoresession sample-mongodb-restore sample-mongo
kubectl delete -n demo backupconfiguration sample-mongodb-backup
kubectl delete -n demo mg sample-mongodb
kubectl delete -n demo repository gcs-repo

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