PHP System Command to have PHP execute mysqldump

[Quarterbore]

I have been using my server based CRON tab to backup my databases but I had a corrupted database the other day and I think the problem was because of too much activity on the server during the backup.

I tried using the hacks:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...atabase+backup

and

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...atabase+backup

But those hacks are way too slow for my taste (They took about 30-minutes to do the backup where the CRON backups form the server take about 5-minutes.

So, in my searches I found the following page:

http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/pe...backup-php.php

That page uses a PHP Function system() to initiate a mysql dump.

I tried getting this to work on my site and the script executes but I was not able to locate any backup file I am still not sure if the backup is there or not as my server has way too many folders and files but I don't think it saved....

I don't want to repost the code here for obvious copyright concerns so the page linked above plus the following should be all that is needed...

http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/co...-using-php.php

I would love to build a cron that simply does the following...

1. Turn off the Forums
2. Execute the server based Backup
3. Turn the forums back on

Now, I realize that the script above simply pings the server to initiate the backup so I may need a second cron to turn the forums back on...

Are there any master coders that can help figure this out?