Mysqldump question
 

When I run a mysqldump, does it lock the database from being written to or must I stop the board first. I've heard it both ways. Thanks.

JakeC

It would be best to turn your board off, giving a nice notice to your visitors.

I don't think the whole database is locked, just the tables being backed up in sequence.

Which means that, you could get people starting threads after you have backed up that table, then people post, and you then backup that table... then you get records that are not associated, and stuff like that.

Your tables can be updated while you are taking an SQL Dump. Once requested it mirror's the db and you get the results.