Deployment and Backup Guide for Mongodb Database on Hostinger VPS
#mongodb#backup#vps#hostinger
Md Tariqul Islam

Md Tariqul Islam @tariqul420

About: Full Stack Developer

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Pabna, Bangladesh
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Deployment and Backup Guide for Mongodb Database on Hostinger VPS

Publish Date: Jul 17
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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
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  • Update System: 
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
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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
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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
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Switch to the admin database:

use admin
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Create an admin user:

db.createUser({user: "username" , pwd: passwordPrompt() , roles: ["root"]})
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Verify Users:

show users
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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"}]})
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Verify Users:

show users
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Exit the shell:

exit
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Enable Authentication:

Open the MongoDB configuration file

sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf
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Look for the security section and add the following:

security:
authorization: enabled
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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
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Find the net section and set bindIp to your server's IP address and localhost:

net:
bindIp: 127.0.0.1
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Set Up a Firewall:

Enable UFW

sudo ufw enable
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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
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Setup MongoDB Backup Script

Create Backup Directory 

mkdir -p ~/backups/mongodb
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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 {}
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Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/backups/mongodb_backup_database_name.sh
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[Optional] AWS S3 Backup Script

Ensure AWS CLI is installed and configured.

aws configure
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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/{}
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Step 3: Automate Backups with Cron

Edit crontab:

crontab -e
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Add this to run every hour:

0 * * * * ~/backups/mongodb_backup_database_name.sh
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Step 4: Test Your Configuration

MongoDB Status

sudo systemctl status mongod
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Backup Check

ls ~/backups/mongodb
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Access MongoDB with the new admin user: 

mongosh --port 27017 --authenticationDatabase "database_name_where_user_stored" -u "username" -p "password"
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Test Connection from Your Application

Use a MongoDB client or your application to connect to the database using the server's IP address, port, and credentials.

Uninstall MongoDB 

sudo apt purge mongodb-org*
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Step 5: Connect With MongoDB Compass

Download and install MongoDB Compass, a graphical user interface for MongoDB. To download click here

If you want to access your database from anywhere you have to make changes on /etc/monogd.conf file.

sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf
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Find the net section and comment out the bindIp line:

# network interfaces
net:
port: 27017
bindIp: 0.0.0.0
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Then restart MongoDB

sudo systemctl restart mongod
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Now you can access your MongoDB from anywhere.

To Make Connection use:

mongodb://your_server_ip:27017
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If you are using authentication use this format

mongodb://username:password@your_server_ip:27017
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For specific database use this format

mongodb://username:password@your_server_ip:27017/database_name
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Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully installed and configured MongoDB for production on your Ubuntu VPS. With these steps, your database should be secure, optimized, and ready to handle the demands of a live environment. Remember to regularly update MongoDB, monitor its performance, and back up your data to ensure long-term reliability.

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