[vbcron] Automatic database backup [v1.3]

This script will allow you to automaticly back-up your vBulletin database (or any database you have access to).


Current Stable Version: 1.3.1

System Requirements-

vBulletin RC 2 or later
Unix/Linux server with MySQL Dump support
Ability to chmod folders to 777 (775 works on some servers)

[high]IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL THAT USE THIS SCRIPT[/high]

This script invokes an outside process that runs in the backround on your server to backup and compress your database. It is important to remember that this is not an instant process, do not enter you ftp as soon as the script says it is done and try to download your backup. It will likely be incomplete and your server will probbly still be writting the file to disk.

I ussally give the process an hour or two before I mess with the file, larger databases will take more time of course.

Installing the script-

1. You will need to change the information here for it to work correctly on your server:

PHP Code:

// ######################## Begin edits ######################
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // database host

define('DB_USER', 'db_user'); // database username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // database password

define('DB_NAME', 'db_name'); // vbulletins database name

define('DUMP_PATH', '/path/to/dump/folder'); // path to where db backup will be stored

define('DUMP_MAKE_TAR', 1); // set this to 1 for the backup to be compressed in a .tar.gz file
// ####################### End Edits ########################## 


2. CHMOD the folder you specified in DUMP_PATH to 777

3. Upload the vbcron_db_backup_131.php file to the /vbroot/includes/cron directory

4. Enter you admin control panel, under Scheduled Tasks click [high]Add New Scheduled Task[/high]

Enter the information has follows:

Title: Automatic Database Back-up

Day of the Week:

This is the day of the week the task should run on. Set this to * to have it not apply, or for it to run every day (if Day of the Month is set to * below). Otherwise select a specific day. Note that this will override the day of the month option, unless this is set to *.

Day of the Month:
Set this to the specific day of the month the task should run. This is overridden by the Day of the Week setting above. Set this to * to have it not apply.

Hour:
This is the hour of the day the task should run. Set it to * to have it run every hour.

Minute:
This is the minute of the hour the task should run. Set it to * to have it run every minute (not really recommended!).

Log Actions:
If this is set to Yes, every time the scheduled task runs, a log will be made indicating that the task was run, and in certain cases, additional information will be provided (e.g. for the Birthday Email task, the usernames who were sent birthday wishes will be noted).

Filename:
Enter the path to vbcron_db_backup_131.php, ./includes/cron/vbcron_db_backup_131.php should work in most cases

What was added in 1.3.1

- Fixed all bugs reported in 1.3

What was added in 1.3

- Added ability for script to leave logs

Improvments to come:

- Email alert when db is begin backed up
- Close board when back-up is in process
- 'Lock down' db durring backup so no one can access it
- Table, by table back-up
- Clear session table before backup
- Make script more windows friendly
- Delete last .sql (or .tar.gz) file when doing current back-up
- [high]Ability to use hashed file names for back-ups[/high]
- [high]Save back-up to forgin server[/high]

To come: version 2.0

2.0 will introduce most, if not all the fetures listed above.

Public beta testing will begin in the next few days, expect a stable version in at least 2 weeks time.

[Bison]

Yeah ... take your time Brad.loo. Personal life is most important!

Don't rush because a few can't wait. With some time, I know you'll produce a great script!

[Sanity]

Thx for this skript!

I use it once per day and it is great. But I get always three files instead of one: I got the error.txt, the *.sql and the *.tar.gz files. Everything seems to be ok but i would like only to have the *.tar.gz file.

[SnowBot]

Originally Posted by Bison

Yeah ... take your time Brad.loo. Personal life is most important!

Don't rush because a few can't wait. With some time, I know you'll produce a great script!

I agree, its working great as it is so we can hang for the update, just relax for awhile

[xTerMn8R]

Will this hack also work on a Windows 2000 Server running VB 3.03?

[NietzscheKid]

My condolences Brad.

[weirdpixels]

will this hack work if I have my database on one server and my vb files etc on another?

[SamirDarji]

Any news on 2.0? Will it work with 3.0.3? Can someone summarize the changes that are available to this hack?

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by Matrixgl

I am not trying to discourage people from using this hack, but this is just a suggestion for people who wants more features.

The script that I use can be used to make backups of any database, and it has all the features that you probably need.

• Backup multiple databases and servers with different users and passwords.
• Backups can be scheduled using cron (on UNIX systems) or AT (on Windows systems).
• Create daily, weekly and monthly snpashots of your database.
• Keep the daily, weekly and monthly backups for a user-specified time.
• Archive and compress the SQL files (*.tar.gz).
• Creates a detailed report of everything that has been done.
• Reports can be mailed to you or any other user- specified email- address, saved to disk or displayed in browser.
• Generated SQL files can be mailed to you or any other user-specified email-address.
• Generated SQL files can be saved on the server.
• Choose to create SQL files for each table or one for each database.
• No system calls, everything in 100% pure PHP. PHP Safe-mode compatible.

http://restkultur.ch/personal/wolf/scripts/db_backup/

I've been messing with this for a little while in a scheduled task in the vb cron. On my local test server, it works fine. But on the production server, I get a "Internal Server Error" when I try to manually run the job. Any clues?

[dethfire]

yeah any status? seems like a few months since an update

[dethfire]

also will this timeout on a large database?