vB Database Backup

[1quick1]

Hey everyone. I've been using this Mod for a while now and haven't had a single issue until now. This last week or so I get this error message now when it runs and it causes my forum to be shut off until I go in and turn it off and on again. I haven't changed anything so I'm not sure what the problem is and why this just started happening.

Database error in vBulletin 3.7.0:

Invalid SQL:
SHOW CREATE TABLE `postedithistory`;

MySQL Error : MySQL server has gone away
Error Number : 2006
Request Date : Monday, September 15th 2008 @ 04:01:51 PM
Error Date : Monday, September 15th 2008 @ 04:02:02 PM
Script : http://www.extremebodybuilding.net/forum/admincp/cronadmin.php?do=runcron&cronid=35
Referrer : http://www.extremebodybuilding.net/forum/admincp/cronadmin.php?do=modify

[Paul M]

Perhaps you have a low mysql timeout value.

[1quick1]

Perhaps you have a low mysql timeout value.

I'm on a shared server so I don't get to mess wtih any of those settings (at least I don't think). It's weird cause I haven't had an issue with this mod, even when I used the old one on 3.6.x

My site is pretty small so the backup usually completes really fast. Like 5,000 threads, 50,000 posts, and 3000 members

[Stryker412]

Stupid question but I want this mod to do backups just like vbulletin does. So I would set combine all tables to one file to yes right?

[Paul M]

If thats what vb does then yes.

[Stryker412]

Got it working, thanks.

[TsirhCitna]

I've had a couple of occasions where the board did not get reopened after the backup.

[forsanelhaq]

i want it back up to ftp

where can i find that

[PAKIDIL]

finally i got it working .i was having this erorr : An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing. even i gave my backup folder 777 and also providing the correct path . i have found that the problem was i changed

"Y-m-d"
in to
2008-10-01
Do not Change "Y-m-d" until u get it working for ya

that's why it was showing me this erorr
An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing

Strange . So may be few guyz having this problem due to this edit "Y-m-d".

Installed Now. one thing if any one could tell me how to compress the backup in to zip or gzip ? thanks

[Chadi]

Could you possibly add this feature to automatically prune backups older than x amount of days? That would be great.

Would be great if you can add this feature please. Thanks.

[Paul M]

"Y-m-d"
in to
2008-10-01
Do not Change "Y-m-d" until u get it working for ya

Do not change that at all unless you understand what you are doing. Its a generic date format, not something you set to specific dates.

one thing if any one could tell me how to compress the backup in to zip or gzip ? thanks
You cant, at least not with this mod.

Would be great if you can add this feature please. Thanks.
Sorry, nothing new will be added to this.

[PAKIDIL]

one thing i want to ask its making new folders every time it runs so how can overwrite on the same backup ?

[desirulez]

i dont know how to set the settings :(

i want a daily backup settings

[Paul M]

one thing i want to ask its making new folders every time it runs so how can overwrite on the same backup ?
You could do what I do and change the time format to this ;

$backup['DATE'] = 'l'; // Lowercase 'L'

This creates a folder for each day (i.e. Monday, Tuesday etc) and they get overwritten each week.

i dont know how to set the settings :(

i want a daily backup settingsIt runs daily by default.

[Markos]

dose it run daily at 4 every day then and can u make it run you're self to test it ??

[Paul M]

You can run any vb cron via the schedules area of the ACP.

[Suenee]

Ok I am completely new at this and do not know code at all. I know from reading these post that this is nothing new to you. However if you will humor my ignorance and give me some suggestions as to how to make this mod work it would be greatly appreciated. I set the path to:

// File Saving Information
$backup['DATE'] = 'Y-M-d'; // Backup file date format (See http://uk.php.net/date)
$backup['PREFIX'] = 'Forum-'; // Backup file prefix, applied to all files
$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '/home/www.mywebsite.com/backups/'; // Path to backups folder, must have a trailing slash

This is the best I could interpret it from this thread. I loaded the includes folder into the home directory. When I ran the task I get an error message that reads this:


Automatic Database Backup for vBulletin 3.7

Warning: include_once([path]/./includes/cron/cronbackup.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in [path]/admincp/cronadmin.php on line 113

Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '[path]/./includes/cron/cronbackup.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in [path]/admincp/cronadmin.php on line 113

Can one of you please tell me what I need to do to correct this situation to make this work?:confused:

Thank you in advance:)
Suenee

[Paul M]

That is basically saying that the file cronbackup.php is not uploaded (to the correct place ?).

[Suenee]

That is basically saying that the file cronbackup.php is not uploaded (to the correct place ?).

that I can fix can you tell me which file it should be in?

[Thug]

awsome worked a charm :)

[gedr80]

great hack thx

[static-skillz]

I downloaded this and it was Y-M-d in the config, just an fyi.

[elrafei]

thanks

but i have this error

An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing.

what can i do ?

[seax19]

thanks

but i have this error

what can i do ?

It is mentioned a bunch of times in this thread that this means either the path you put in config file is not being found, has not got write (777) permission or theres a permission issue at the server/host end. I set this up for a test run on my system and got that error many times, it was finally solved by using absolute path to the backup folder instead of relative as was suggested previously. It is working now and I think I'm probably going to keep it :)

[elrafei]

It is mentioned a bunch of times in this thread that this means either the path you put in config file is not being found, has not got write (777) permission or theres a permission issue at the server/host end. I set this up for a test run on my system and got that error many times, it was finally solved by using absolute path to the backup folder instead of relative as was suggested previously. It is working now and I think I'm probably going to keep it :)


thanks seax19

i did this

have got write (777) permission to folder backups in my www

this folder on

/home/myuser/public_html/backups/


but nothing happen

the error still appear

i change it to

mysite/backups/

but the error still appear too ..

[kevcj]

Thank you Paul, yet another A+ modification.

[megatop78]

i installed this and gave the directory permissions. Everything works fine.. it even shows "The Backup was completed successfully", but when the backup is completed and i browse to the backup directory. I find nothing inside it. Can you tell me where i am going wrong ??

[BigJohnny]

im having a problem with it not running automatically, unless i missed a setting somewhere to set how often it backs up, but according to the cron script it should be every day.

[alkank]

I installed as shown here but I have no idea about where the output will be? and how will we restore when the forum crashes?

thank you.

[GlamRockTalk]

This mod ROCKS! :D

Another clutch mod by Paul. Thanks!

[GlamRockTalk]

Everything installed well and I copied the same settings as my other forums that this mod works on, but this is the second day that it has not generated a backup.

Edited: Whoops..just noticed that my 'backups' folder was not CHMOD777. So, I just did that and will wait for the file to generate tonight and check it tomorrow morning.

[raviteja542]

installed

[BigJohnny]

same problem still.

My last backup was on nov 9, that one happened automatically, but it has not made another backup since that day.

[Paul M]

No idea, Maybe you broke your cron system ?

The running of crons is core vb functionality, not something specific to this mod.

[Dream]

I'm using version 2.12, should I upgrade? Seems to be backing up fine.

[BigJohnny]

my vbulletin has only 3 mods installed currently, and this is the only one that uses the cron system. so its has no changes or mods made to it at all.

[Paul M]

I'm using version 2.12, should I upgrade? Seems to be backing up fine.
There is no reason to upgrade if 2.12 is working fine for you.

[zeus_r6]

Not sure if this has been asked yet, but will this mod work with large databases that cannot be downloaded via cpanel?

[Paul M]

What do you mean by "large" ?

[zeus_r6]

Databases that are 600mb+....Everytime I need a backup, the host has to do it on their end since neither VB or phpmyadmin will allow the download without timing out.

[CeesT]

Databases that are 600mb+....Everytime I need a backup, the host has to do it on their end since neither VB or phpmyadmin will allow the download without timing out.
If it is too big for this add-on, you could try MySQLDumper (http://www.mysqldumper.de/en/)

[Paul M]

My database is bigger than 600M, works fine for me.

[momo2]

So this will backup the forum mysql or the whole forum including the directory ?
second question, i have added many arcade games, is there anyway i can have the games
move outside the forum ? my back from 300MB is now like 500 due to all the games i added.
same like the attachments or the avatars ? to save space on the backup ?

[stationar]

Is there any way to gzip a backup file? The file is too big - 110 MB. And I didn't include two big tables: word and postindex.

[Distance]

So this will backup the forum mysql or the whole forum including the directory ?
second question, i have added many arcade games, is there anyway i can have the games
move outside the forum ? my back from 300MB is now like 500 due to all the games i added.
same like the attachments or the avatars ? to save space on the backup ?

This will only back up the database, not the files.

Attachments and avatars etc will only be saved if they are set to be stored in your database, if they are stored as files you will need to perform a file backup to backup these files.

Distance

[PCkaosboss]

This works 100 %....thx...

Only problem with danish forums is our speciel letters = æ ø å

When restoring database...all speciel letters are gone....replaced with a ?

Should there be a workaround, so i can keep my speciel letters...like æ ø å

One more thing. Will this work with vB version 3.8

[aciurczak]

Are there step-by-step instructions somewhere about how to restore a vB database using a backup made with this mod? I'm assuming it's something like: load the txt file back up to the server to an area where phpmysql can see it, and point phpmysql to the file to rebuild the DB. But if someone could put together a list of:

- here's what you do (including actual sql commands) to restore the db if it all of the tables in one large combined file
- here's what you do to restore the db if the backup is in individual files by table

it might help folks out and make the overall use of this mod a bit more clear.

I've been using this mod for awhile, but had the first chance to restore the DB, and wanted to post up that it really was a pretty easy process. I have this mod configured to put the whole backup into a single text file. On my host, all that is necessary to restore the database is to put the backup file into the correct directory (_db_backups). You can get it there by FTP'ing it into there if you have it on your own computer, or you can move it over there from the host itself. The file can be named anything, but it has to end with ".sql". Then you just go into Hosting Manager, click on Databases, and hit the pencil icon on the right to edit/restore the database. It will pop up a menu that lists the .sql files in that directory, and one more click and it starts the restore. Thanks again Paul, for this incredibly useful mod.

[aciurczak]

I'm having trouble with the 30 second time-out. Moved to a new host awhile back with a small database, and all worked fine. Moved another site there with a larger database, and now the backups aren't completing. The script stops right at the 30 second point, with only 40MB or so in the dump file (of the 100 - 110 MB that should be in there).

PHP is not running in safe mode, other possibly relevant PHP settings are below:

max_input_time = 120
post_max_size = 128M
file_uploads = On
max_execution_time = 600
memory_limit = 256M
file_uploads = On
upload_max_filesize = 128M
mysql.connect_timeout = 120

All of those are set in a php.ini file, and correctly show as such in the PHP status from the admincp. Any suggestions on why the script is still stopping at the 30 second mark?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[FCDobbs]

I know you have answered this a million times, but I just can't seem to specify
the destination folder correctly.

On my Server, my Folder structure is:
anon_ftp
bin
cgi-bin
conf
error_docs
httpdocs
httpsdocs
pd
private
statistics
subdomains
web_users

I have added a folder under the anon_ftp folder and called it dbbackup
I have changed the attributes to 777 for this folder, AND for the anon_ftp parent folder.

All my vBulletin files/folders are stored directly under the httpdocs folder.

In my mysqlbackupconfig.php file, I am specifying the backup directory as

$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '../../anon_ftp/dbbackup/';

I have tried it with 1 set of double dots, 2 sets, 3 sets, 4 sets, and no sets.....

When I run it, in ALL cases I get the infamous Error message........
"An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing."

What in hell am I doing wrong ?????

[obiefan]

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This has saved me from the dreaded "phrase" file has crashed.

[Paul M]

What in hell am I doing wrong ?????
You probably have open_basedir restrictions in effect - this is common on plesk based servers.

[PAKIDIL]

Just wanted to know is this work with vbulletin 3.8 RC2 ?

[FCDobbs]

You probably have open_basedir restrictions in effect - this is common on plesk based servers.

Thank you Paul.

But... I am successfully able to use the vBulletin database backup to a file on the server...
the file pathname is "./dbbackup/filename", and this works.

Obviously it is being stored in a folder under the httpdocs folder, called dbbackup.

So this does work, and we have made no changes to the server configuration.

Does this make sense ?

[Paul M]

Yes - all the (valid) options you tried were for folders outside of httpdocs - which is restricted by open_basdir on plesk servers.

Storing backups inside the httpdocs folder is a very bad idea as anyone can access them.

[Phoenixgal]

is this compatible with the new 3.8?

[Phaedrus]

is this compatible with the new 3.8?
There is a 3.8 version.

[Phoenixgal]

There is a 3.8 version.



Thanks!! Ssaw that and uploaded it!! Great Mod! :)

[atmaca]

Thank you Paul M. Installed

[tom212]

Paul,

If this is installed and running perfectly in 3.7.4, would you expect any issues when upgrading to 3.8? I realize you have a 3.8 version but I hate to go through the upgrade/config hassles if this version should suffice.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Tom

[tanha]

very nice.......

[Paul M]

Paul,

If this is installed and running perfectly in 3.7.4, would you expect any issues when upgrading to 3.8? I realize you have a 3.8 version but I hate to go through the upgrade/config hassles if this version should suffice.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Tom
I believe it should work fine after you upgrade.

[MTGDarkness]

I installed this... For some reason, I can't get the directory right. I have no idea about relative directories... I stuck a folder named "Backups" in the Includes folder, CHMODded it to 777, and then pointed it to any number of locations... ../backups/, /public_html/forums/includes/backups/, ... Not sure what to do at this point...

[kevcj]

I installed this... For some reason, I can't get the directory right. I have no idea about relative directories... I stuck a folder named "Backups" in the Includes folder, CHMODded it to 777, and then pointed it to any number of locations... ../backups/, /public_html/forums/includes/backups/, ... Not sure what to do at this point...

Well, to start with you want your backup folder ABOVE the html root. The location you have it at now - "/public_html/forums/includes/backups/" - anyone could access that folder and download your database. And then guess what, all of your data no belongs to someone else.

The backup folder should be somewhere like - account_name/backups/public_html/forums

Get the path fixed before you get the script running.

[Lionel]

Hi Paul,

I have been using this great script for a while now. I recently added a function in the cron to delete all backups that are 3 days or older when it performs a backup, because I had to constantly manually delete old files.

I placed it right after

echo $mysqlBackup->STATUS;

What I'd like to know is how to determine a successful status from the script. In case of failure I don't want to run the delete. Something like
if($status == 'success')
{
// my stuff here
}

Thanks

[Paul M]

It should contain 'The Backup was completed successfully.'

You can change that (about line 27) in the mysqlbackup.php file if you wish.

[MTGDarkness]

I just can't get the directory right... I set up a folder in the server's root directory, and tried setting the dump path to just /(foldername)/. Then I tried (server username)/(foldername)/... How can I set this right? :(

[Paul M]

Use a relative path, like ../../foldername

[MTGDarkness]

And what would the relative path be when the folder is in the server root? I honestly don't know how to use relative paths.

[Paul M]

No idea, that depends on your server setup. Google is your friend, lookup reletive paths.

[Markos]

hi Paul is there away so i can make this run twice a day like say 10am and 10pm

[Paul M]

Set up a second scheduled task.

[Markos]

Set up a second scheduled task.

ok thanks will try that lol

[Markos]

hi Paul see the way i have this set now does it mean that will run every 6 hours...?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/markos1977/fdfsdf.jpg

[Paul M]

Eh ? I dont know how you have it set-up.

[Markos]

well if u look at the pic it has hours set to 6 so does that mean it will run every 6 hours or 6 oclock every day

[Paul M]

Viewing the post at work, the picture was not visible, must be hosted somewhere that is blocked. It means it will run at 6 every day.

[Markos]

Viewing the post at work, the picture was not visible, must be hosted somewhere that is blocked. It means it will run at 6 every day.

thanks

[SpyCam]

Hello,
i'm having problems with this mod.

When i have these settings:
// Backup Options
$backup['LOCK'] = 1; // Lock Tables during dump
$backup['REPAIR'] = 1; // Repair & Optimize Tables before dump

I get this error:
Automatic Database Backup for vBulletin 3.7
An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing

When i have these settings:
// Backup Options
$backup['LOCK'] = 0; // Lock Tables during dump
$backup['REPAIR'] = 0; // Repair & Optimize Tables before dump

I get this error (white page with DB error stuff):
MySQL Error : Table 'datastore' was locked with a READ lock and can't be updated
Error Number : 1099

This is my config file contents:
<?php
/*
<!-- $Header: d:\cvs/3.7/Auto-backup/includes/mysqlbackupconfig.php,v 3.2 2008/01/06 15:32:44 pem Exp $ -->

Auto-Backup (Lite) for vBulletin 3.7 - Paul M - v 3.7.001
This lite version is adapted from the original 3.0 version by Trigunflame.
*/

// Combine all tables into one file
$backup['COMBINE'] = 1; // 0 = No, 1 = Yes

// Close Forum during Backup
$backup['SHUTDOWN'] = 1; // 0 = No, 1 = Yes
$backup['MESSAGE'] = "Forumas yra laikinai isjungtas, nes yra daroma atsargine duombazes kopija.";

// File Saving Information
$backup['DATE'] = 'Y-M-d'; // Backup file date format (See http://uk.php.net/date)
$backup['PREFIX'] = 'auto-'; // Backup file prefix, applied to all files
$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '../db_backups'; // Path to backups folder, must have a trailing slash

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------//

// Backup Options
$backup['LOCK'] = 1; // Lock Tables during dump
$backup['REPAIR'] = 1; // Repair & Optimize Tables before dump

// Backup Type To Use
$backup['TYPE'] = 2; // 1 = Only Specified Tables, 2 = All except Specified Tables
$backup['TABLES'] = array(); // Table List - e.g. array('table1', 'table2')

// Backup Optimizations
$backup['INNODB'] = 0; // Set to 1 if you have Innodb Tables

// Execution Function
$backup['COMMAND'] = 'exec'; // exec, system or passthru

?>

[Paul M]

Read the notes carefully.

$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '../db_backups'; // Path to backups folder, must have a trailing slash

[SpyCam]

Yeah, i tried to remove the trailing slash to see if it helps and forgot to put it back

But it doesn't help anyways.

$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '../db_backups/'; // Path to backups folder, must have a trailing slash


MySQL Error : Table 'datastore' was locked with a READ lock and can't be updated
Error Number : 1099

[Paul M]

Thats a mysql error, that basically means something tried to update the table after you locked it. Personally i wouldnt use the lock functionality, but if you do, you will most likely get errors if you leave your forum open.

[SpyCam]

Can you give me an example of configuration that would work for sure?

With the following one i still get "Automatic Database Backup for vBulletin 3.7. An error occured during the Backup : Could not open Destination SQL file for writing." error:

<?php
/*
<!-- $Header: d:\cvs/3.7/Auto-backup/includes/mysqlbackupconfig.php,v 3.2 2008/01/06 15:32:44 pem Exp $ -->

Auto-Backup (Lite) for vBulletin 3.7 - Paul M - v 3.7.001
This lite version is adapted from the original 3.0 version by Trigunflame.
*/

// Combine all tables into one file
$backup['COMBINE'] = 1; // 0 = No, 1 = Yes

// Close Forum during Backup
$backup['SHUTDOWN'] = 1; // 0 = No, 1 = Yes
$backup['MESSAGE'] = "Forumas yra laikinai isjungtas, nes yra daroma atsargine duombazes kopija.";

// File Saving Information
$backup['DATE'] = 'Y-M-d'; // Backup file date format (See http://uk.php.net/date)
$backup['PREFIX'] = 'auto-'; // Backup file prefix, applied to all files
$backup['DUMP_PATH'] = '../db_backups/'; // Path to backups folder, must have a trailing slash

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------//

// Backup Options
$backup['LOCK'] = 0; // Lock Tables during dump
$backup['REPAIR'] = 0; // Repair & Optimize Tables before dump

// Backup Type To Use
$backup['TYPE'] = 2; // 1 = Only Specified Tables, 2 = All except Specified Tables
$backup['TABLES'] = array(); // Table List - e.g. array('table1', 'table2')

// Backup Optimizations
$backup['INNODB'] = 0; // Set to 1 if you have Innodb Tables

// Execution Function
$backup['COMMAND'] = 'exec'; // exec, system or passthru

?>

[SpyCam]

No solution?

[Paul M]

The error is down to your server permissions, I cannot provide answers for individual servers.

[CheeSie]

:( I love this script, but it cant handle my 1.3gb database! :(

But it always stops when processing my post table :(

Is there a way I can prevent it from timing out?
.. Or somehow make it do one table at a time?

[Paul M]

It does one table at a time.

My database is bigger than that, and works fine.

[steven s]

I get Internal Server Error after the script runs 1/4 of the way.
I do not suspect it is a problem with the mod as I have been getting this error with other auto backup scripts.

My file is ~440Mb.
What should I be asking my provider to change?

[Paul M]

No idea, "Internal Error" is a pretty meaningless generic message, you need a more specific message.

[GoTTi]

hey paul, ive been using this mod for a long time, and running into a problem...

it turns the forum off, but doesnt turn it back on after it is done backing up. what should i do? reinstall the mod?

[Paul M]

Disable that option, its always been unreliable.

[GoTTi]

Disable that option, its always been unreliable.

disable what? the mod itself? uninstall it ?

[Paul M]

disable what? the mod itself? uninstall it ?

No. The option you mentioned.


it turns the forum off, but doesnt turn it back on after it is done backing up

[GoTTi]

i dont understand....the option is the default option for the forum. i have your mod set to turn the forum off when the backup is in progress. its not turning the forum back on when it is done. thats the problem i am running into

[Paul M]

I cannot make it any clearer.

Disable the the option that turns the forum off. Do not use that option.

[softvnzla]

Hi Paul, worked with vb 4?