MongoDB

MongoDB + Backups & Retention

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Table of Contents

• MongoDB
  • About
    • Environment Variables
    • Built With
  • Setup
    • Production

About

Custom MongoDB Docker image extending mongo:latest with automated backups, retention management, and replica set configuration.

Includes cron-based scheduled mongodump operations with compression, automatic stale lock recovery on unclean shutdowns, and zero-config replica set initialization — while preserving all native MongoDB functionality.

Manually trigger a backup: docker exec -t mongodb backup

Restore a backup: Decompress the archive and use the official mongorestore tool.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default	Example
BACKUP_CRON	Cron schedule expression		0 */6 * * *
BACKUP_DIR	Directory to store backups	/data/backups	/backups
BACKUP_DB	Database to backup	$MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE	admin
BACKUP_RETENTION	Number of backups to keep, defaults to unlimited		7
MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE	Default database name		momentum
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	Root username for mongodump auth		root
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	Root password for mongodump auth		secret
REPLICA	Comma-separated list of replica hostnames to init/join a replica set		db1:27017,db2:27017

Built With

Setup

Production

Prerequisites

• Docker

Instructions

1. Run the docker image:

docker run -d \
  --name mongodb \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 27017:27017 \
  -e MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=myapp \
  -e BACKUP_CRON="0 3 * * *" \
  -e BACKUP_RETENTION=7 \
  -v ./mongodb/data:/data/db \
  -v ./mongodb/backups:/data/backups \
  ztimson/mongodb:latest