<p>To protect against server failure, data loss, or accidental changes, I’ve automated daily backups of my web app — including both the <strong>MongoDB database</strong> and <strong>NodeBB forum files</strong> — and synced them securely to <strong>Google Drive</strong> using <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rclone.org/"><code>rclone</code></a>.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1624895608078-e9f564cbe3fa?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wxNTQwMTB8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxiYWNrJTIwdXB8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzQ5Nzc3Nzc4fDA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080"><figcaption>Photo by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://unsplash.com/@siyuan_hu?utm_source=DNX&amp;utm_medium=referral">Siyuan Hu</a> on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=DNX&amp;utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h3>🧰 Tools Used</h3><p><strong>MongoDB</strong> for database</p><p><strong>NodeBB</strong> for forum data</p><p><code>mongodump</code> for database backup</p><p><code>rclone</code> to sync backups to Google Drive</p><p><code>cron</code> to automate the task</p><h3>📁 Backup Script</h3><p>Here’s the backup script I run every night at 2 AM:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">#!/bin/bash
source /home/adam/.mongodump.cnf  # contains MONGODB_URI or credentials

BACKUP_DIR="/home/adam/backups"
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%F-%H%M")
MONGO_BACKUP="$BACKUP_DIR/mongo/mongo-backup-$TIMESTAMP"
FILES_BACKUP="$BACKUP_DIR/nodebb-files/files-backup-$TIMESTAMP"

mkdir -p "$MONGO_BACKUP" "$FILES_BACKUP"

# Backup MongoDB
mongodump --out "$MONGO_BACKUP"

# Backup NodeBB uploads/configs/logs (customize as needed)
cp -r /home/adam/nodebb/public/uploads "$FILES_BACKUP/uploads"
cp -r /home/adam/nodebb/config.json "$FILES_BACKUP/config.json"
cp -r /home/adam/nodebb/logs "$FILES_BACKUP/logs"

# Clean up local backups older than 7 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR/mongo" -type d -mtime +7 -exec rm -rf {} \;
find "$BACKUP_DIR/nodebb-files" -type d -mtime +7 -exec rm -rf {} \;

# Sync to Google Drive
rclone sync "$BACKUP_DIR" gdrive:NodeBBBackups --delete-during</code></pre><h3>🔁 Set Up Cron Job</h3><p>To run the backup daily at 2:00 AM:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">crontab -e</code></pre><p>Add this line:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">0 2 * * * /home/adam/cron/backup.sh &gt;&gt; /home/adam/cron/backup.log 2&gt;&amp;1</code></pre><h3>☁️ Google Drive Setup with <code>rclone</code></h3><p>If you're starting from scratch:</p><p>Install <code>rclone</code>:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash</code></pre><p>Configure a Google Drive remote:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">rclone config</code></pre><p>Choose <code>n</code> for new remote</p><p>Name: <code>gdrive</code></p><p>Storage: <code>drive</code></p><p>Add your <strong>own client ID and secret</strong> from Google Cloud (optional but recommended)</p><p>Use <code>rclone authorize</code> if configuring from a headless server</p><p>Test with:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">rclone lsd gdrive:</code></pre><h3>🔐 Tip: Keep Only the Latest Cloud Backup</h3><p>To avoid using excess space on Google Drive, the sync command:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext">rclone sync "$BACKUP_DIR" gdrive:NodeBBBackups --delete-during</code></pre><p>ensures the remote backup mirrors your local backup folder — deleting outdated files automatically.</p><h3>✅ Automate It (Optional)</h3><p>You can create a cron job:</p><pre><code class="language-plaintext" id="PMqHxqcSi">0 2 * * * /usr/bin/rclone sync /home/adam/backups gdrive:NodeBBBackups --delete-during &gt;&gt; /var/log/rclone.log 2&gt;&amp;1
</code></pre><p>This syncs your backups daily at 2:00 AM.</p>

To protect against server failure, data loss, or accidental changes, I’ve automated daily backups of my web app — including both the MongoDB database and NodeBB forum files — and synced them securely to Google Drive using rclone.

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