I try and do regular backups of my forum and my directory, both of which use mysql databases. I think that phpmyadmin is the interface for the database. I currently do the backups from within the control panel of phpbb and the php directory!

Is this sufficient, or if the unthinkable happens and the server looses the databases can I back them up from the backups that are generated from phpbb or php link directory or should I be backing up the data a different way


Thanks in advance

chez

Well, it not necessarily the most reliable way to backup db, phpBB db utilities are ok for rather small DB, but I would not only rely on them over few mo.

Using phpmyadmin is a lot more reliable, but the best is to manage to backup automatically using software's such as rsnapshot on dedicated servers.

When using shared, it depends if your hosting service provides some solutions, phpmyadmin could be best solution in such cases.

There must as well be some php script doing it for you, with pseudo crown abilities and performing regular backups directly on the ftp, worth a search.

++

Also after a certain size ( about 5-6mb ) it gets more dificult to upload backups especially with poor conections like dcz mentions.
Another con is, It also does not make backups of any MODs if you have any.
in phpmyadmin Go to EXPORT and select the tables you want to back up. I usually check "use complete inserts". I sometimes have trouble if I want to save it as a gzip or zip.. so I just download it without those options ( none ) and it saves just fine.

Thanks for the replies

I have done it the way that peter said and it has worked

I have been trying to back up the database from within phpmyadmin for months, but I was selecting all the tables in the column on the left and that is why it never worked

Now I know how to do it and I will do it on a regular basis.

Thanks again

I started with the stock phpBB backup, then phpMyAdmin, and now mysqldumper. It handles backing up and restoring, multiple versions, FTP and e-mail backup (e.g., to gmail). The backup steps are incremental to avoid timing out the web server. The install was easy. If you have cron access, it can do automated backups.

HB wrote:I started with the stock phpBB backup, then phpMyAdmin, and now mysqldumper. It handles backing up and restoring, multiple versions, FTP and e-mail backup (e.g., to gmail). The backup steps are incremental to avoid timing out the web server. The install was easy. If you have cron access, it can do automated backups.

I have a managed dedicated server and so I think I have cron access, but I am not 100% sure. I will take a look when I have time!

I barely log into the control panel as I spend most of my time making new pages and then I just ftp them to the server. There is probably lots in the control panel that I will never even use, but I guess it is good to have it there

If I could automate the backups and e-mail them then that would be very useful!

Thanks chez

Ahhh, that is true what HB recommends. After making those backups, if the file is too large, it is just a pain to recover those backups. Bigdump is also a good program.

There is the Automatic Database backup MOD. it does a cron backups.. option to make the backups in a directory in your site or send to an email like google's gmail or wherever or do both kinds of backups. I had it on one of my boards. It worked OK . Just a little buggy because obviously its in BETA still. but it did an alright job. I just stopped using it because it was sending me multiple email backups ( within the same minute ) even though I had disabled the cron... it was strange. Seems I was the only one with that issue. So who knows.. could work better for you.

Goodluck.

Peter77 wrote:I just stopped using it because it was sending me multiple email backups ( within the same minute ) even though I had disabled the cron... it was strange. Seems I was the only one with that issue. So who knows.. could work better for you.

I had the same problem and uninstalled it for the same reason.

what about this script

http://www.mysqldumper.de/en/download

features:

* Multilingual
* Backup and restore of MySQL-Databases
* Automatic sending of backups via Email or FTP
* Automatic deleting of backups on the server following your own rules
* Using a Perl script as a Cronjob
* Administration and manipulation of databases
* Backup of database-structures (without data)
* Backup and restore of tables
* Protecting your backup via ".htaccess file"
* Reveals PHP , MySQL version and configuration details and more...!
* Easy installation
* Easy operating
* Multipart-Backup for very large databases
* Multi-database-Backup!

its working completely independent

I use full text (SQL) backup from within phpMyadmin and I restore using Bigdump.

The phpbb.com support have always told me to use uncompressed SQL files as compressed .gz files don't always restore properly. This has in fact happened to me in the past, so I always take uncompressed backups now - and they are currently up to 300MB.

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