As someone else mentioned, there should be no need to stop/start mysql. I run something like this in a crontab: 45 0 * * * mysqldump --opt mydb > /data/dumps/mydb_`date \+\%j-\%H-\%M.dump` For something like this (above) to work you would assumne the db is local and you either have no password (bad) or a password in your .my.cnf file. Check all the other options for mysqldump as well. The format of the file the above command write is: mydb_DayOfYear-hour-minute.dump For instance, today's file should be: mydb_266-00-45.dump I run the same command for each db on the system. The mysql database, which never changes on my system, also get's dumped each night, and then I run it against diff to alert me for any hanky panky. Set up the filename and frequency so suit your tastes; then simply tar the file to your device. I have a jazz drive that I run everything to every week (backups are to a seperate drive like you are doing), and a simple 'tar -cvf /dev/device /data/*' will run it onto disk for you. Change the "c" parameter in tar to suit your needs as well (u or r?). My backup is quite simple, not very eloquent, but then again, I have never lost any data. Maybe look into 'mt' to get a status on the tape drive. When I first installed Linux, I had an old floppy tape drive that I backed up to; I too needed to get a disk usage from the device. I spent 2 days writing a Perl script which massaged the output of 'tar -tvf ..' into something that would give me an idea of what percentage of space I had on the tape drive........then I discovered 'mt' :-) Hopefully, this should be enough to get you started. v/r Mike On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 01:38:05PM -0700, 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 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss