It is very important to back up your client’s databases. Your host may say they do, but you never know. Sometimes backup scheduling lapses without warning and I’ve had it coccur with more than one host. It is no fun rebuilding a database for free. It can take many hours. Therefore I review for you now…
MySQLDumper is a neat and very easy to install MySQL database backup program for backing up your databases on any site.
Set it up once iwth an automated install and log in (if you set directory protection, which you should of course).
No more logging into godaddy and then logging into whatever obscurely named MySQL server to get to your PHPMyAdmin just to make a backup.
Once you’re set up you can run a backup and download the backup directly, have it emailed to yourself, which works fairly well, (just set the file size high enough so you don’t get the ‘attachment to large’ error) and if you can get it to work, FTP it to another site.
For me, the FTP setup correctly and connected to my alternate site but the program will not send the file to the server no matter how I set it up. I am getting no errors but it is not uploading via FTP and the PHP function won’t run via CRON. I will not be setting this up on any other sites than the test site. But even with these flaws it saves time for sites with hosts like godaddy.
This program has potential, is well written but is lacking some important functionality. I could go through and set it up for PERL and maybe then the CRON jobs would work and the FTP might work correctly. But I am looking for things that are easier to use.
Although I think MYSQLDUmper is a good solution for avoiding multiple logins to get to PHPMyAdmin, I’ll let you know when I find an easier and better working solution, probably from Sourceforge here.