How to setup a backup compliant with 3-2-1-1-0 rules

MongoDB Atlas
1

Hi everyone,
I got a strange question from one of my customer; they want to know if Atals DB support 3-2-1-1-0 backup rules.
I think to comply with this rule we need to copy the backup on 2 different regions or clouds, plus have the possibility to download the backup.
is there a way with ATLAS to automate a download of a backup every time the backup is performed or facilitate the download using a script put in a crontab of a server outside ATLAS?

Thanks

2

Hi @Alessandro_Manetti. Atlas can meet these requirements it just depends on how an Atlas user may want to set it up.
First let’s set the stage for what 3-2-1-1-0 means in case other community users have the same question.
3 = three copies of the data, not including the original data itself.
2 = two different types of media (so think storage type but in cloud offerings this is sometimes interpreted as 2 or more cloud regions)
1 = data offsite (or in the cloud case this could mean in a completely separate cloud account depending on interpretation)
1 = usually means offline
0 = zero errors / issue with the backup and it being restored

In Atlas…

  • All backups are natively stored redundantly through the cloud providers by default.
  • A user can also choose to copy their backups automatically to any other cloud region offered in Atlas for their chosen cloud provider.
  • User can also chose to export their snapshots to their own S3 buckets automatically, or manually download the backup to their own storage (this can’t not be scheduled automatically through Atlas, this would need to be scripted for this to happen automatically as you called out)
  • depending on whether a user downloads the backups or exported to S3 and how they interpret the rules, they may want to either do another download from Atlas or store the S3 files offline as well to meet the offline requirement
  • finally to validate the backup, we always recommend periodically restoring your backups to ensure the data is as you expect. With Atlas natively using the cloud provider snapshot functionalities, snapshots can not be altered or edited after they are taken, ensuring the data is not manipulated

Additionally Atlas offers a Backup Compliance Policy option that offers further backup data protection. A user can customize this policy so that all clusters in a project must have a minimum level of backups and retention, backups can not be deleted by any user regardless of role before the pre determined retention period, and more which is outlined in our documentation.

I hope this helps!
-Evin

3 Likes
3

Thanks for the in-depth explanation of what is this rule.