MongoDB

The MongoDB integration allows Plakar Control Plane to back up and restore the contents of a MongoDB server. Plakar connects to a running server and drives the MongoDB command line utilities, so a snapshot is a logical export of the server rather than a copy of its data files, and a reachable server is required for both backup and restore. The integration supports two protocols, mongodb and mongodb+srv, matching the two MongoDB connection string formats. Both support backup and restore.

Running MongoDB tasks on an edge

The MongoDB integration relies on mongosh, mongodump, and mongorestore, which must be installed on the machine that executes the task. These utilities are not included in the appliance, so MongoDB tasks run on an edge rather than on the Control Plane.

Install the required MongoDB utilities on the edge host, then configure the task to run on that edge.

Running the edge in a container

When the edge runs as a container, build a custom edge image from the official MongoDB image. It already includes mongosh, mongodump, mongorestore and the CA certificates the edge needs to reach the Control Plane over HTTPS:

FROM mongo:8
COPY --from=ghcr.io/plakarkorp/plakar-edge:<version> /bin/plakar-edge /bin/
ENV PLAKAR_EDGE_EXTRA_TAGS=mongodb
ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/plakar-edge"]

Replace <version> with the edge version that matches your Control Plane, as described in Choosing the edge version.

Pin MongoDB tasks to the resulting edge with the Run on field when scheduling them, or target it by the mongodb tag. See selecting an edge.

Inventory Management

Currently no managed inventory has the capability of discovering MongoDB resources. You need to set up a self-managed inventory before adding a MongoDB resource.

Adding MongoDB as a resource

When using a self-managed inventory, you must register your resources manually or import them from a CSV file.

To add a MongoDB server as a resource, use Database as the class and leave the subclass empty. For the endpoint, use the hostname or IP address of the MongoDB server, or the SRV hostname of the deployment when using the mongodb+srv protocol. See resources documentation for more information on how to set up resources on a self-managed inventory.

1. mongodb protocol

The mongodb protocol connects to the server at the host and port given in the resource endpoint and the app configuration. Use it for self-hosted servers and for any deployment that is addressed by a fixed hostname or IP address.

Backup flow

flowchart TD
  subgraph MongoDB["MongoDB Server"]
    DB["Databases"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["MongoDB
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"mongodump"| DB
  DB --> Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

Restore flow

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["MongoDB
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph MongoDB["MongoDB Server"]
    DB["Databases"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore
  Restore -->|"mongorestore"| DB

Shared configuration

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps using the mongodb protocol.

• Auth Mechanism: The authentication mechanism used with the server, such as SCRAM-SHA-256 or MONGODB-X509.
• Password: The password used to authenticate to MongoDB.
• Port: The MongoDB server port. Defaults to 27017.
• Tls Ca Cert Data: The PEM content of a custom CA certificate used to verify the server’s certificate.
• Tls Client Cert Data: The PEM content of a client certificate for mTLS authentication.
• Tls Client Key Data: The PEM content of the client key for mTLS authentication. Must be set together with Tls Client Cert Data. Setting only one of them is an error.
• Use Tls: Use an encrypted TLS/SSL connection. Defaults to true.
• Username: The username used to authenticate to MongoDB.

2. mongodb+srv protocol

The mongodb+srv protocol resolves the server addresses from DNS SRV records published for the hostname, rather than connecting to that hostname directly. The port is also obtained from DNS, and any configured port is ignored. Use it for deployments that publish their connection details through DNS, such as MongoDB Atlas clusters. The resource endpoint is the SRV hostname of the deployment.

Backup flow

flowchart TD
  subgraph MongoDB["MongoDB Server"]
    DB["Databases"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["MongoDB
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"mongodump"| DB
  DB --> Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

Restore flow

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["MongoDB
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph MongoDB["MongoDB Server"]
    DB["Databases"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore
  Restore -->|"mongorestore"| DB

Shared configuration

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps using the mongodb+srv protocol.

• Auth Mechanism: The authentication mechanism used with the server, such as SCRAM-SHA-256 or MONGODB-X509.
• Password: The password used to authenticate to MongoDB.
• Port: Ignored when using this protocol. The port is obtained from DNS along with the server addresses.
• Tls Ca Cert Data: The PEM content of a custom CA certificate used to verify the server’s certificate.
• Tls Client Cert Data: The PEM content of a client certificate for mTLS authentication.
• Tls Client Key Data: The PEM content of the client key for mTLS authentication. Must be set together with Tls Client Cert Data. Setting only one of them is an error.
• Use Tls: Use an encrypted TLS/SSL connection. Defaults to true.
• Username: The username used to authenticate to MongoDB.

Restore behaviour