Support Data Management with Datavail’s New MongoDB Backup Tool

Even small and medium businesses generate a LOT of data, much or all of which must be appropriately backed up to facilitate a successful recovery if needed. Unfortunately, the expansion of data types and the drive for digital transformation have made managing those backup and recovery functions especially difficult. There are just too many data types, formats, systems, etc., to accomplish a “simple” backup function, let alone one that allows a swift return to work using a recovered option.

For SMBs relying on MongoDB for their data management needs, one option to resolve this challenge creates another challenge: how to back up the MongoDB files fully without also having to purchase the MongoDB backup and recovery services embedded in MongoDB Ops Manager or MongoDB Cloud Manager.

Fortunately, Datavail has developed a new and supported data backup and recovery option for MongoDB that is fast, reliable, and very well priced. SMBs that need reliable, swift, comprehensive backups but don’t want to pay enterprise-sized fees will appreciate accessing the new opportunity.

Data Backup Is Critical to Corporate Health

Every organization now relies on its data and corporate information to push forward in its market lane. Systems information, supply chains, customers, etc., all contribute critical insights to corporate health and inform decisions for a brighter corporate future.

However, gathering and utilizing all that data also generates the requirement of managing it, storing it, and keeping it safe. Successful backup capacities are also necessities, as these assure leaders they’ll have a reasonably functioning database if something bad should happen to their main engine. Access to supported recovery services also assures them that a recovery is possible even when something bad does happen. Further, with new data breach threats emerging every day, ensuring that comprehensive backup and recovery systems are in place is as much an element of corporate risk management as it is data security.

Despite these realities, many IT departments are increasingly challenged to accomplish these backup and recovery tasks given the depth, breadth, and scope of today’s data pools. Traditional methods aren’t designed to provide all the security and functionality requirements demanded by today’s challenging data types, formats, and sources:

• The task of backing up the vast quantities of information that live in existing data pools is already daunting. Adding the constant flow of incoming information that arrives in unstructured forms and from newly engaged devices creates another level of chaos. Without dedicated thought and attention, insufficient backup systems may corrupt or lose critical corporate details, and those gaps won’t be discovered until after an issue compels a recovery attempt.
• In other cases, backed up and recovered files, etc., might not line up with existing application architecture requirements. Here, older versions of backups may not mesh well or at all with newer iterations of critical corporate programming.
• Failing to engage a high-quality backup capacity also opens the risk of cyber intrusions and crimes. Having a reliable, comprehensive second database available eliminates the possibility of suffering damages caused by cybercriminal threats like ransomware.

 
While the “big box” cloud providers offer impressive backup and recovery services, for most SMBs, the costs involved in accessing those are prohibitive. MongoDB, for example, offers excellent database backup and recovery options, but companies must purchase the Enterprise level of services to access it, and that may be beyond both their needs and their budget.

Introducing Datavail’s MongoDB Backup Tool

The data backup and recovery professionals at Datavail recognized the challenges posed to SMBs by both the heavy demand for reliable backups and the potentially burdensome cost of the same charged by bigger services providers. They developed the MongoDB Backup Tool to respond economically and comprehensively to those concerns and now offer a fully capable MongoDB backup option that doesn’t require access to either enterprise-grade MongoDB Operations Manager or MongoDB Cloud Manager.

Features of the Datavail Tool 

• Because it’s designed to mimic the GPL Percona Backup for MongoDB (pbm), Datavail’s version provides the same functions and capabilities.
• Suited for MongoDB versions 3.0 through 4.4, the programming:
  • Offers a hot backup.
  • Is able to read from secondary servers.
  • Allows for point-in-time recovery.
  • Compresses the backup as it runs.

 
Datavail’s backup servicing process ensures that the backup function accomplishes precisely what’s expected: a high-quality, reliable, and supported version of every file, folder, data bit, and object:

• Connect to MongoDB through the pbm agent.
• Run “pbm config” command to configure the backup location.
• Trigger the pbm backup command to launch the process.
• Create pbm collections in the admin database.
• Gather relevant MongoDB data, including the version number, the replica set name, the primary nodes, etc.
• Run the backup:
  • Create necessary backup metadata.
  • Confirm the backup location.
  • Shift the “start backup” function to “running backup.”
  • Identify the “oplog” start position.
  • Launch “mongodump.”
  • Complete “mongodump.”
  • Start “oplogdump.”
  • Mark the backup as complete.

 
The Recovery and Restore service included in the MongoDB Backup Tool adds the establishment of the restoration process to the program. The software follows the backup process paths in reverse, including decompressing the backed-up files and oplogs to recover data when needed.

We’ve launched this new tool as a service in part of a recent project we completed for an online gaming company that saved costs and improved processes. If you’ve got challenges with MongoDB backups, come speak with our experts about this solution.