Which a lot of us do not have.

Thank for the explanation, Dismounted. ;)

The script is already on the server if its a cron, so you dont need ssh access.

If your host panel, ie... cpanel & numerous other host panels possess the ability to setup cron based bash scripts.

Also, I think it's time for this response :p:

The only reliable method of backing up and restoring a database is with shell access via telnet or ssh. This is because backing up with a PHP script like that in the Admin CP or phpMyAdmin can result in PHP timeouts errors and an incomplete backup file. Please see the instructions here:

Backup:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/m...nce_ssh_backup

Restore:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/m...ce_ssh_restore

P.S. If you don't have shell access, some people have also reported success with these scripts:

MySQLDumper:
http://www.mysqldumper.de/en/index.php

MySQLHotxcopy:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...t=mysqlhotcopy

Bigdump:
http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump.php

Good advice, i see all the time on forums i frequent how a host will crash, and people are irate because they didn't take 5 seconds out of their day to do a backup.

Its not the hosting providers responsibility to do reliable backups, its yours!

Thanks to all those who have helped in this thread, I just finished backing up now :)

IMO if there were 10 vBulletin commandments, that would be in the top 3 i'm sure ;)