Phil, also check out mysqlhotcopy, which will keep you from having
to stop/start the database to make a copy of the data.

> 
> On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 13:38, Phil Mattison wrote:
> > Hello Fellow PLUGers,
> >   I have a Linux server running Apache/PHP/MySQL, and want to setup
> > automatic daily backups for the database. I'm planning to install a second
> > hard drive to receive the backup data, and will modify the web site to
> > exclude access while backups occur. I'm wondering if anyone has written
> > scripts to do similar tasks and would be willing to share some examples. I'm
> > thinking the script needs to do something like the following:
> > Stop MySQL
> > Copy the database files to the backup drive
> > Restart MySQL
> >   It also would be nice to get a daily report of disk usage and the size of
> > the backups. If anyone has any tips or examples they would be much
> > appreciated.
> > Thanks,
> > --
> > Phil Mattison
> > Ohmikron Corp.
> > 480-722-9595
> > 602-820-9452 Mobile
> > 
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