On Dec 3, 2008, at 3:16 PM, kitepilot@kitepilot.com wrote:

> Back then when I researched the issue (about a year or so ago), you  
> had to
> take the server down to get a consistent backup with the tools  
> provided by
> MySQL.
> I haven't updated my research since...
> ET

Setting up a replication slave just for backups is pretty simple.   
Then you can take down the slave to make a backup at any time without  
affecting the master at all.

alex