This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Md Tariqul Islam
Overview
This guide walks you through deploying MongoDB on a Hostinger VPS (Ubuntu 22.04+) and setting up an automated backup system. It configures hourly backups for the database_name database and retains a maximum of 5 backups locally or optionally uploads them to AWS S3.
Prerequisites
- Hostinger VPS (Ubuntu 22.04 or later)
- MongoDB installed
- Environment variables: MongoDB username and password
- Optional: AWS S3 bucket + AWS CLI (for offsite backup)
Step 0: Get Access to Remote Server:
- Log in to VPS:
ssh root@your-vps-ip
- Update System:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Step 1: Install and Configure MongoDB
1.1 Install MongoDB and enable service
sudo apt-get install gnupg curl
curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | \
sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg \
--dearmor
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu noble/mongodb-org/8.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod
1.2 Secure MongoDB
Security is crucial, especially in a production environment. Follow these steps to secure your MongoDB installation.
Create an Admin User:
Open the MongoDB shell:
mongosh
Switch to the admin database:
use admin
Create an admin user:
db.createUser({user: "username" , pwd: passwordPrompt() , roles: ["root"]})
Verify Users:
show users
Create New User with Read & Write Permission and New Database
use database_name
db.createUser({user:"username", pwd:passwordPrompt(), roles:[{role:"readWrite", db:"database_name"}]})
Verify Users:
show users
Exit the shell:
exit
Enable Authentication:
Open the MongoDB configuration file
sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf
Look for the security section and add the following:
security:
authorization: enabled
Step 2: Configure MongoDB for Production
MongoDB’s default settings are not optimized for production. Let’s make some tweaks.
Limit Bind IP:
Open the MongoDB configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf
Find the net section and set bindIp to your server’s IP address and localhost:
net:
bindIp: 127.0.0.1
Set Up a Firewall:
Enable UFW
sudo ufw enable
Use UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) to allow only specific IP addresses to access MongoDB
sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 443
sudo ufw allow 22
sudo ufw deny 27017
Setup MongoDB Backup Script
Create Backup Directory
mkdir -p ~/backups/mongodb
Local Backup Script
Save the following as: ~/backups/mongodb_backup_database_name.sh
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR=~/backups/mongodb
DB_NAME=database_name
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%F-%H-%M-%S)
BACKUP_NAME="backup-$DB_NAME-$TIMESTAMP.gz"
# Create MongoDB backups
mongodump --db $DB_NAME --authenticationDatabase database_name -u database_user -p your_secure_password --archive=$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME --gzip
# Delete old backups from local directory (keep a maximum of 5)
ls -t $BACKUP_DIR/backup-$DB_NAME-*.gz | tail -n +6 | xargs -I {} rm {}
Make it executable:
chmod +x ~/backups/mongodb_backup_database_name.sh
[Optional] AWS S3 Backup Script
Ensure AWS CLI is installed and configured.
aws configure
Modify the backup script to include S3 upload:
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR=~/backups/mongodb
DB_NAME=database_name
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%F-%H-%M-%S)
BACKUP_NAME="backup-$DB_NAME-$TIMESTAMP.gz"
S3_BUCKET="s3://database_name-mongodb-backups"
# Create MongoDB backups
mongodump --db $DB_NAME --authenticationDatabase database_name -u database_user -p your_secure_password --archive=$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME --gzip
# Backup upload to S3
aws s3 cp $BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME $S3_BUCKET/$BACKUP_NAME
# Delete old backups from local directory (keep a maximum of 5)
ls -t $BACKUP_DIR/backup-$DB_NAME-*.gz | tail -n +6 | xargs -I {} rm {}
# Delete old backups from S3 (optional, if you want to keep a limited number of backups)
aws s3 ls $S3_BUCKET/ | awk '{print $4}' | grep "backup-$DB_NAME" | sort -r | tail -n +6 | xargs -I {} aws s3 rm $S3_BUCKET/{}
Step 3: Automate Backups with Cron
Edit crontab:
crontab -e
Add this to run every hour:
0 * * * * ~/backups/mongodb_backup_database_name.sh
Step 4: Test & Verify
MongoDB Status
sudo systemctl status mongod
Backup Check
ls ~/backups/mongodb
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Md Tariqul Islam