diff --git a/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml b/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
index c6c57269..430bff29 100644
--- a/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 cron_mysql_backup:
   dumps_directory: "/home/{{ deploy_user }}/shared/{{ project_name }}_{{ build_type }}/db_backups/mysql/regular"
   keep: 10
+  max_allowed_packets: 128M # Needs to be larger than the single largest database row
diff --git a/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/templates/regular-backups.sh.j2 b/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/templates/regular-backups.sh.j2
index 901cfcf7..ecae0457 100644
--- a/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/templates/regular-backups.sh.j2
+++ b/roles/cron/cron_database_backup/cron_database_backup-mysql/templates/regular-backups.sh.j2
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ TARBALL="$DB_NAME-$(date -Iseconds).sql.bz2"
 KEEP=$(({{ database.original.backup.keep | default(cron_mysql_backup.keep) }}+1))
 
 backup(){
-  mysqldump -u"$DBUSER" -p"$DBPASSWORD" -h"$DBHOST" "$CURRENT_DBNAME" | bzip2 > "$TARGET_DIR/$TARBALL"
+  mysqldump --max-allowed-packet={{ cron_mysql_backup.max_allowed_packets }} --single-transaction --skip-opt -e --quick \
+	    --skip-disable-keys --skip-add-locks -C -a --add-drop-table \
+	    -u"$DBUSER" -p"$DBPASSWORD" -h"$DBHOST" "$CURRENT_DBNAME" | bzip2 > "$TARGET_DIR/$TARBALL"
   ln -sfn "$TARGET_DIR/$TARBALL" "$TARGET_DIR/$DB_NAME"
 }
 
@@ -23,4 +25,4 @@ cleanup(){
 }
 
 backup
-cleanup
\ No newline at end of file
+cleanup