I need to backup a large mysql database

Vigilante

And the searching I've done on the subject so far has mostly suggested using mysqldump, the problem is that I don't have shell access to the server.

I think I've read somewhere that php has a function to execute commands on the command-line. If that is the case couldn't I write a script which asked you what directory to backup to and then executed the proper mysqldump command to back it up? Then I could just download it and delete it from the server.

edit: I forgot to mention, the reason I don't just use phpmyadmin is because the server always times out. I would assume if I tried to use php to generate a file it would also time out before long. If the mysqldump from php is possible it should execute without any inteference from php after the initial command, no?

marque

Try this

http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/21960.html

superwormy

exec() and system() allow you to run things as if from a command prompt.

You should be able to run mysqldump and pipe the output to a text file with system() or exec(), and even relatively large databases ( 100 or so megs ) usually only take a few seconds.

TruckStuff

Originally posted by Vigilante
And the searching I've done on the subject so far has mostly suggested using mysqldump, the problem is that I don't have shell access to the server.

You don't need shell access on the DB server, you just need it on your own server. mysqldump is designed to connect to remote DBs and grab the data. You want something like this:

mysqldump -h<db_host> -u<dba_user> -p<dba_user_pass> <db_name> > <outfile>

superwormy

You MIGHT need shell access on the server MySQL is located on, or you MIGHT NOT.

This depends on how MySQL is setup as far as users and where they are allowed to connect from, and whether or not MySQL is running on the same host as the webserver.

MOST webhosts have MySQL and Apache running on the same computer, and only allow connections from localhost unless you ask them to specifically allow something else.

Or at least MOST that I've dealt with. And in this case, you do need shell access, or an equivalent PHP workaround.