AWS S3 is the industry leader in cloud storage solution. Storage starts at $0.023/GB/Month, with download costs of $0.09/GB. AWS pricing can get a bit more complex and we recommend all users to read the full pricing. However in our minds they are the leads and when paired with MySQL backups makes a fantastic option for storing backups.
In this guide, we will show you how easy it is to backup MySQL to S3 using SnapShooter. SnapShooter has a free plan for a single database, so you can get started totally for free, just bring the storage!
Signing up for SnapShooter is easy and free -- all you need is an email address.
Once you have an account, you can backup one resource for free daily, with options started from $9 to upgrade for larger resources limits and backup frequency. Click Free Trial in the top right Provide your name, email and a password.
Once into the dashboard, you will be greeted by a welcome screen showing you what backup offerings SnapShooter has available. For this guide select, MySQL.
To perform a MySQL backup, you need to configure an SSH connection to a server you wish backups to pipe through; this is within your environment and acts like a jump box between SnapShooter and your MySQL.
You will be asked to provide details of an SSH connection to a server, depending on the backup type you may or may not need root access. (Root access is required when you want to do a file-based backup and backup the whole server)
Set the Backup name to something you will remember. e.g. Production MySQL
From the SSH server select an existing or provide the ssh host (ip or hostname), ssh port (default is 22), and the ssh user
Select an existing SSH key or let SnapShooter generate you a new one
If you wish to use a new user for backups on your server you can run the following commands as root:
adduser
--disabled-password
snapshooter
This will generate a user without a password
When you press Test and Connect SnapShooter will show the steps to install the key, this involves you pasting the SSH public key into the users authorized_keys
SSH into your server
Copy the key we present you
On the server edit the authorizedkeys file, Make sure you edit the correct users authorized keys. SnapShooter will provide you the normal path e.g. for user called SnapShooter /home/snapshooter/.ssh/authorizedkeys
We allow offer a single copy paste method
Select Single Copy Paste
Login to Server
Copy the command
Paste the command into SSH client connected to the server
When you press test, SnapShooter will connect to your server via SSH to check the connection is good.
SnapShooter will also check the correct packages and libraries are installed on the server, MySQL, tar, curl, unwip, gzip
1.
snapshooter@staging.snapshooter.io: Permission denied (publickey).
This error normally means the server does not have the SSH key installed correctly, try following the steps again
The next step in the process is to configure MySQL backup.
Provide your MySQL Host, if the database is on the same server as the ssh connection, you should use 127.0.0.1, if not change it to the host or IP of the MySQL instance
MySQL Port
MySQL User - You are free to use any user or configure a new one just make sure it it has read access to the databases you want backed up
MySQL password - Your password is stored encrypted and we use it to write a secure my.cnf file on your server
Once ready you can ask SnapShooter to test your MySQL details, we will connect to the database and check we have Auth access
Next step we ask you to select the database you want to backup, depending on your plan features you might also be able to select all databases.
You need to select the storage provider you wish for your backups to be stored with, we allow users to select from a range of providers and in the guide will focus on S3
If you have already setup the storage provider you want you can select it and proceed if not press Connect new External Storage
Login to your AWS Console
In top menu select services
Search for S3 and open S3
Press New Droplet button
Choose your bucket name (e.g. s3.snapshooter.io)
Choose your backup region
You can choose a region close to your server to increase speed or further away if you want to mitigate risk
Under Configure Options leave as set
Under Set permissions, leave `Block all public access` checked.
Under Review press create
Leave S3 and find IAM from the top services menu and search
Press Users on left sidebar
Add User
user name (e.g. snapshooter)
Access Type Programmatic access
Permissions ignore and press Next:tags
Optional Setup Tags
Next Review
Create User
View Details SAVE SECRET KEY, will never be shown again
In IAM find the user list and click on your new user
Press Add Inline Policy
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "s3:ListBucket", "s3:DeleteObject", "s3:GetObject", "s3:PutObject", "s3:PutObjectAcl" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME/*", "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME" ] } ] } { "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "s3:ListBucket", "s3:DeleteObject", "s3:GetObject", "s3:PutObject", "s3:PutObjectAcl" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:s3:::s3.snapshooter.io/*", "arn:aws:s3:::s3.snapshooter.io" ] } ] }
Choose JSON Editor
Paste the following:
Replace BUCKET_NAME with the newly created bucket name e.g.
Then press Create Policy (give it a useful name)
Go back to SnapShooter
https://snapshooter.io/dashboard/settings/storage/attach
Choose a Friendly Name
Select AWS Storage Provider
Select the correct s3 region selected before
Paste in saved access key and secret access key
Enter the correct bucket name
Press save
We will check the API key is valid and works before allowing you to save. Once complete you are ready to setup a Backup Job that uses external storage.
Scheduling is where the power and ease of use for SnapShooter shins.
You need to tell SnapShooter how often you wish to have backups, currently, we support up to hourly backups. You can also set Timezone and Daily backup time. We will then take your daily backup at this time/timezone and tag it as daily. If you have more than daily backups, we will offset the other backups on this.
With SnapShooter taking backups at the frequency you set you need to decide how many past backups you wish to keep.
Depending on when your backups start SnapShooter will tag them, Hourly, Daily, Weekly and Monthly (Weekly is your first on a Monday, Monthly is your first backup that happens on the 1st of the month)
When a backup is completed SnapShooter will then proceed to prune your backups based on your rules. This way we keep your backups in the most efficient way while also keeping a far horizon
Your setup is now complete
We recommend you test your new configuration by pressing the Backup Now button, as backups happen in the background you can expect a small delay (20s) before the backup will start
Once you backup has completed you will be able to see it in the backup table
Depending on your compression level and the size of the backup it may take time to complete. Every minute SnapShooter will go and check the process to see how far it has got. Using the Log button you can see the latest state the backup is in.
When the MySQL has completed you will be shown the restore guide for if you ever needed to recover the database
For more information mysql backup to s3, please get in touch with us!