Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vB Database Backup

This modification is no longer available or supported.

Note: Because I did not write the original version, but rather have modified & adapted it, support of this modification may be limited

When vb 3.5 first came out I was using this backup system on my vb 3.0 - and having nothing better to use - I converted it to work on vb 3.5 (here) and since then I have cut it down and adapted it, first for vb 3.6 and now for vb3.7.

The original version was by Trigunflame and the rights to the code were bought by Zoints (D.Chapman) in January. In 2007 David gave me permission to release my adaptation.

I have stripped out much of the extra stuff that I do not use (or indeed, could not get to work). This is a simple (lite) version that does a php based dump of your database either as one file, or one file per table.

Notes:
* I will not add anything new to this, or spend vast amounts of time supporting it.
* This is a Lite version to allow people to use the basic backup functionality on 3.7.


History:

v3.7.001 : First version for vB 3.7.

[CeesT]

Originally Posted by 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.

If it is too big for this add-on, you could try MySQLDumper

[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]

Originally Posted by 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 ?

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]

Originally Posted by 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.