Automating database backup, mirroring & cron

Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
06 Jan 2009
  • Hi everyone,

    I have just started using vbulletin and so far so good. I just have a couple questions:

    1. Is there a way to run a task or cron job in vB to back up the database and put it into a folder outside of the web's or forum root directory (such as ~/backups)? When files are out of the webroot, it makes me feel better. How about you?

    2. I am using a shared host that runs Debian and my home computer is windows XP (ugh!). Is there a program that can mirror my site via FTP. I heard of a program that can do it automatically and at certain times but I can't remember the name. HTT something (I think). I know about wget and rsync but I don't want to install the cygwin stack to get it to run in windows.

    3. Speaking of cron, do I need to set up a cron job in order for the tasks already present in vB to function correctly? I had to do this in drupal (tell cron to run /drupal/cron.php). It's better to ask and make sure, than to have cron not cleaning things up.

    Thanks for the help ! :D


  • I recommend a real cron job for backups instead of vB's task system.

    I am moving this thread to the Server Configuration forum.


  • Cron is a good way to setup an automatic mysql dump and save it. How easy it is for you to setup and have a place to store is upto whoever owns the machine. I do both a 24hour mysql dump of the data base plus I do a complete server copy every 24 hours using rsync and store a picture of the entire server on two local sata 250gb drives . I then keep my main scsi raid 5 drives free to work and have a mirror image that if the need ever came up I could step back to any day desired and put a mirror image back. Probably an overkill but still handy. I also run a remote backup full server and have it do a mirror copy every 7 days and run a remote mysql rsync every 24 hours so that I can play with the backup before I make any changes on the live machine.

    Running a remote windows machine will make it tough to do any kind of remote backups but using cron and saving a local copy of your mysql dump I would consider to be a must for anyone that is serious about his or her forum.







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