diff --git a/roles/_init/defaults/main.yml b/roles/_init/defaults/main.yml
index 06470a09..9821f131 100644
--- a/roles/_init/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/_init/defaults/main.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # Common defaults. Given the "_init" role is mandatory,
 # this will ensure defaults to other roles too.
 deploy_user: "deploy"
+_mysqldump_command: "mysqldump --max-allowed-packet=128M --single-transaction --skip-opt -e --quick --skip-disable-keys --skip-add-locks -C -a --add-drop-table"
 drupal:
   sites:
     - folder: "default"
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..29b8003b 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
+  mysqldump_command: "{{ _mysqldump_command }}" # set in _init but you can override here
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..fb60cdea 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 +10,8 @@ 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"
+  {{ cron_mysql_backup.mysqldump_command }} \
+	    -u"$DBUSER" -p"$DBPASSWORD" -h"$DBHOST" "$CURRENT_DBNAME" | bzip2 > "$TARGET_DIR/$TARBALL"
   ln -sfn "$TARGET_DIR/$TARBALL" "$TARGET_DIR/$DB_NAME"
 }
 
@@ -23,4 +24,4 @@ cleanup(){
 }
 
 backup
-cleanup
\ No newline at end of file
+cleanup
diff --git a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
index 3ad97b6c..09f44ca3 100644
--- a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/defaults/main.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 mysql_backup:
   handling: rolling
   dumps_directory: "/home/{{ deploy_user }}/shared/{{ project_name }}_{{ build_type }}/db_backups/mysql/build"
+  mysqldump_command: "{{ _mysqldump_command }}" # set in _init but you can override here
   # Number of dumps/db to keep. Note this is independant from the build codebases.
   keep: 10
   # This can be one of the following:
diff --git a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-dump.yml b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-dump.yml
index 4b470b89..57a46e2e 100644
--- a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-dump.yml
+++ b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-dump.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@
   run_once: true
 
 - name: Take a database dump.
-  shell: "mysqldump --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ database.database }} | bzip2 > {{ mysql_backup.dumps_directory }}/{{ _mysql_host }}/{{ database.database }}-{{ previous_build_number }}.sql.bz2"
+  shell: "{{ mysql_backup.mysqldump_command }} --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ database.database }} | bzip2 > {{ mysql_backup.dumps_directory }}/{{ _mysql_host }}/{{ database.database }}-{{ previous_build_number }}.sql.bz2"
   when: previous_build_number > 0
   run_once: true
diff --git a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-rolling.yml b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-rolling.yml
index fe32089a..cbade053 100644
--- a/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-rolling.yml
+++ b/roles/database_backup/database_backup-mysql/tasks/deploy-rolling.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,6 @@
   run_once: true
 
 - name: Populate new database.
-  shell: "mysqldump --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ _mysql_previous_build_database_name }} | mysql --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ _mysql_build_database_name }}"
+  shell: "{{ mysql_backup.mysqldump_command }} --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ _mysql_previous_build_database_name }} | mysql --defaults-extra-file={{ database.credentials_file }} {{ _mysql_build_database_name }}"
   when: previous_build_number > 0
   run_once: true
diff --git a/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/defaults/main.yml b/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/defaults/main.yml
index 48e3e4a0..008f0cf4 100644
--- a/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 mysql_sync:
+  mysqldump_command: "{{ _mysqldump_command }}" # set in _init but you can override here
   databases:
     - source:
         # Name of the database to take a dump from.
diff --git a/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/tasks/sync.yml b/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/tasks/sync.yml
index b8182bc3..778092bc 100644
--- a/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/tasks/sync.yml
+++ b/roles/sync/database_sync/database_sync-mysql/tasks/sync.yml
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
   when: not database.source.type == 'rolling'
 
 - name: Take a dump from source database.
-  shell: "mysqldump --defaults-extra-file={{ database.source.credentials_file }} {{ mysql_sync_source_database }} | bzip2 > {{ mysql_sync_source_dump_path }}"
+  shell: "{{ mysql_sync.mysqldump_command }} --defaults-extra-file={{ database.source.credentials_file }} {{ mysql_sync_source_database }} | bzip2 > {{ mysql_sync_source_dump_path }}"
   delegate_to: "{{ database.source.host }}"
   when:
     - not database.source.type == 'dump'