maternal-app/maternal-app/maternal-app-backend/docs/BACKUP_STRATEGY.md

Database Backup Strategy

Overview

The Maternal App implements a comprehensive automated backup strategy to ensure data protection and business continuity.

Features

1. Automated Backups

• Schedule: Daily at 2 AM (configurable via BACKUP_SCHEDULE)
• Databases: PostgreSQL (primary) + MongoDB (AI chat history)
• Compression: Gzip compression for storage efficiency
• Retention: 30 days (configurable via BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS)

2. Storage Options

• Local: /var/backups/maternal-app (development/staging)
• S3: AWS S3 for production (off-site storage)
  • Encryption: AES256
  • Storage Class: STANDARD_IA (Infrequent Access)

3. Manual Operations

• Manual backup triggering
• Backup listing
• Database restoration
• Admin-only access

Configuration

Environment Variables

# Enable/disable backups
BACKUP_ENABLED=true

# Backup schedule (cron format)
BACKUP_SCHEDULE=0 2 * * *

# Retention period (days)
BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS=30

# Local backup directory
BACKUP_DIR=/var/backups/maternal-app

# S3 configuration (optional)
BACKUP_S3_BUCKET=maternal-production-backups
BACKUP_S3_REGION=us-east-1
BACKUP_S3_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
BACKUP_S3_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key

Required Packages

# PostgreSQL client tools
sudo apt-get install postgresql-client

# MongoDB tools
sudo apt-get install mongodb-database-tools

# AWS SDK (for S3 uploads)
npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3

Usage

Automated Backups

Backups run automatically based on the configured schedule. No manual intervention required.

Manual Backup

Endpoint: POST /api/v1/backups

Authentication: Admin JWT token required

curl -X POST https://api.maternal-app.com/api/v1/backups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ADMIN_TOKEN"

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Backup completed successfully",
  "data": {
    "postgres": "/var/backups/maternal-app/postgresql_maternal_app_2025-10-03T02-00-00.sql.gz",
    "mongodb": "/var/backups/maternal-app/mongodb_2025-10-03T02-00-00.tar.gz",
    "timestamp": "2025-10-03T02:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

List Backups

Endpoint: GET /api/v1/backups

curl https://api.maternal-app.com/api/v1/backups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ADMIN_TOKEN"

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "backups": [
      {
        "filename": "postgresql_maternal_app_2025-10-03T02-00-00.sql.gz",
        "size": 15728640,
        "created": "2025-10-03T02:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

Restore from Backup

Endpoint: POST /api/v1/backups/restore?filename=backup.sql.gz

⚠️ WARNING: This will overwrite the current database!

curl -X POST "https://api.maternal-app.com/api/v1/backups/restore?filename=postgresql_maternal_app_2025-10-03T02-00-00.sql.gz" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ADMIN_TOKEN"

Backup File Formats

PostgreSQL Backup

• Format: Plain SQL with gzip compression
• Extension: .sql.gz
• Command: pg_dump | gzip
• Size: ~10-50MB (varies by data volume)

MongoDB Backup

• Format: BSON dump with tar.gz compression
• Extension: .tar.gz
• Command: mongodump + tar
• Size: ~5-20MB (varies by chat history)

Disaster Recovery

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

• Target: 1 hour
• Process: Restore from most recent backup + replay WAL logs

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

• Target: 24 hours (daily backups)
• Improvement: Enable PostgreSQL WAL archiving for point-in-time recovery

Recovery Steps

1. Stop the application:

   systemctl stop maternal-app
   

2. Restore PostgreSQL database:

   gunzip -c /var/backups/maternal-app/postgresql_*.sql.gz | \
   psql -h localhost -U maternal_user -d maternal_app
   

3. Restore MongoDB (if needed):

   tar -xzf /var/backups/maternal-app/mongodb_*.tar.gz
   mongorestore --uri="mongodb://localhost:27017/maternal_ai_chat" ./mongodb_*
   

4. Restart the application:

   systemctl start maternal-app
   

5. Verify data integrity:

   • Check user count
   • Verify recent activities
   • Test AI chat functionality

Best Practices

Production Deployment

1. Enable S3 uploads for off-site storage
2. Set up monitoring for backup failures
3. Test restoration quarterly
4. Document procedures for on-call engineers
5. Encrypt backups at rest and in transit

Monitoring

Monitor backup health with:

• Success/failure notifications (email/Slack)
• Backup file size tracking (detect corruption)
• S3 upload verification
• Age of last successful backup

Example monitoring query:

# Check age of last backup
find /var/backups/maternal-app -name "postgresql_*.sql.gz" -mtime -1

Security

1. Restrict access to backup files (chmod 600)
2. Encrypt sensitive backups before S3 upload
3. Rotate S3 access keys regularly
4. Audit backup access logs
5. Require MFA for restoration operations

Backup Verification

Automated Verification

The backup service verifies:

• ✅ Backup file exists
• ✅ File size > 0
• ✅ Gzip integrity (gunzip -t)

Manual Verification (Quarterly)

1. Create test environment
2. Restore latest backup
3. Run application smoke tests
4. Compare row counts with production
5. Document verification results

Troubleshooting

Backup Failed - Disk Space

Symptom: Backup fails with "No space left on device"

Solution:

# Check disk usage
df -h /var/backups

# Clean up old backups manually
find /var/backups/maternal-app -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

# Increase retention period (reduce BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS)

Backup Failed - Database Connection

Symptom: "could not connect to database"

Solution:

• Verify DATABASE_HOST, DATABASE_USER, DATABASE_PASSWORD
• Check PostgreSQL is running: systemctl status postgresql
• Test connection: psql -h $DB_HOST -U $DB_USER -d $DB_NAME

S3 Upload Failed

Symptom: "Access Denied" or "Invalid credentials"

Solution:

• Verify S3 bucket exists and is accessible
• Check IAM permissions for PutObject
• Validate BACKUP_S3_ACCESS_KEY and BACKUP_S3_SECRET_KEY
• Test AWS CLI: aws s3 ls s3://your-bucket-name/

Cost Optimization

Storage Costs

• S3 Standard-IA: ~$0.0125/GB/month
• 30-day retention: ~$0.375 for 30GB of backups
• Lifecycle policy: Move to Glacier after 90 days for long-term archival

Optimization Tips

1. Use S3 Intelligent-Tiering
2. Enable backup compression
3. Adjust retention period based on compliance requirements
4. Archive old backups to Glacier

Compliance

GDPR/COPPA

• Right to Deletion: Automated deletion requests backup user data before purge
• Data Portability: Backups support full data export
• Audit Trail: All backup/restore operations logged

HIPAA (if applicable)

• Encryption: Enable AES-256 encryption for backups
• Access Control: Require MFA for backup restoration
• Audit Logging: Track all backup access

Future Enhancements

1. Point-in-Time Recovery (PostgreSQL WAL archiving)
2. Incremental backups (reduce storage costs)
3. Cross-region replication (disaster recovery)
4. Automated restore testing (verify backup integrity)
5. Backup metrics dashboard (Grafana visualization)