Chapter 11. Backing up an MBaaS

You can back up an MBaaS by following this procedure. After completing the procedure and storing the backup data safely, you can restore an MBaaS to the state at the time of backup.

11.1. Requirements

  • A self-managed MBaaS installation on an OpenShift platform
  • A local installation of the oc binary
  • The oc binary has a logged in user on the platform you wish to back up
  • The oc binary has a logged in user with permission to run the oc get pc command

11.2. Expected Storage Requirements

As most of the data being backed up is the data stored in the platform’s Cloud Apps, the amount of backup storage space required is proportional to the amount of data stored by the Cloud Apps.

Other factors that have an impact on how much storage is required for backups include:

  • how often you backup
  • what compression is used
  • the length of time you store the backups

11.3. What Data is Backed Up

You must back up the following items to back up an MBaaS:

  • MongoDB replica set data
  • Nagios historical data

11.4. Backing up the MongoDB Data

Back up the MongoDB data using the mongodump command in combination with the oc exec command: 

oc exec `oc get po --selector='deploymentconfig=mongodb-1' --template="{{(index .items 0).metadata.name}}"` bash -- -c '/opt/rh/rh-mongodb32/root/usr/bin/mongodump -u admin -p ${MONGODB_ADMIN_PASSWORD} --gzip --archive' > ./mbaas_mongodb.gz

11.5. Backing up the Nagios Data

Back up the Nagios data by copying the files from the Nagios pod using the oc exec command: 

oc exec <nagios-pod-name> bash -- -c 'tar -zcf - /var/log/nagios/' > nagios-backup.tar.gz

For example, if the <nagios-pod-name> is nagios-1: 

oc exec nagios-1 bash -- -c 'tar -zcf - /var/log/nagios/' > nagios-backup.tar.gz

11.6. Backup Frequency

Red Hat recommends backing up at least once per day, but you might decide to back up critical data more frequently.

11.7. Example Backup Script

The example script below shows how you can back up an MBaaS from a backup server, assuming that the user on the backup server has permission to execute commands via the oc binary: 

ts=$(date +%y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S)
# Backup the Mongo services
project=mbaas
for pod in $(oc get pods -n $project | grep mongodb-[0-9]-[0-9]-[0-9a-zA-Z] | awk '{print $1}'); do
	service=$(echo $pod | cut -f1,2 -d"-");
    oc exec $pod bash -- -c '/opt/rh/rh-mongodb32/root/usr/bin/mongodump -u admin -p ${MONGODB_ADMIN_PASSWORD} --gzip --archive' > $project-$service-$ts.gz
done

# Backup the Nagios service
oc exec -n $project <nagios-pod-name> bash -- -c 'tar -zcf - /var/log/nagios/' > nagios-backup-$ts.tar.gz