1.) The database credentials must be stored somewhere in a reversible format in order for your script to connect to the database to do the dump? 2.) Could just

1.) The database credentials must be stored somewhere in a reversible format in order for your script to connect to the database to do the dump? 2.) Could just add an extra "|gzip|" inbetween the mysqldump and gpg commands in the example I provided. 3.) I think this is how gpg works internally. Generates a symmetric key, encrypts that with the public key, and then encrypts the actual data with the symmetric key. This is why you can encrypt a file for two recipients without it doubling the size of the resulting encrypted file. 4.) I do remember having some minor problems when setting it up, but it was quite a while ago. Not a show stopper though.