Panama

I noticed that the backup section of Cpanel doesn't say that is not installed any more (or whatever it used to say). So I tried it out.

I clicked the "backup to home directory" and it chugged for a while then sent an error message. Something about password, I think.

There is a .gz file in the root that is not a full backup.

I checked out the help file for the backup, that didn't help.

Now my Cpanel is reporting that it can't find my disk quota, and doesn't list my Megs used. Did that bad backup trash something?

So just what is the status of Backup?

Panama

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Pico

snide

Backup works fine for me.

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clove

well as for your cpanel error, you should make a ticket there..

as for backup. I like to make it download the file to my machine. it should only take seconds to generate your download. My site is currently 500MBish..

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snide

Anymore feedback, Panama?

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Dime13 | Pass17

Panama

I tried it again - I think it is working. No error messages, and the 23 Megs crunched down into a 5 meg backup (is that normal?).

I backup to the home directory because I am on a :cen: dialup most of the time. When I go into the office I use their bandwidth to DL the backup.

Has anyone used the SQL Restore feature? I'm hesitating to try it for fear of trashing my Db. I know the Download a Backup works, those look fine when I open them, but has anyone used the restore?

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Pico

snide

I don't see any reason to restore a db unless it was corrupted for some reason.

Is that the case?

I'm not sure just how much compression is done, but i believe that it is reasonable to assume that COULD be complete. Try uncompressing it on your home machine (or your work machine).

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Dime13 | Pass17

Panama

I don't have any problems with my Nuke Db now, but the reason I might need to do a restore are
1. One or more users who are ticked off or bored might post a bunch of obcene or threatening posts. Rather than track down and delete them all, I could just restore the Db.
2. Someone might find a hack to completely mess up the Db.
3. Or it may just be trashed by a software glitch.

One thing I would like clarified is the action taken by the SQL restore in Cpanel. This just restores the data to a previous state, it doesn't restore the structure of the Db, correct?

To do a backup that includes the info about the structure of the tables we need to use PhpMyAdmin (and while Monkeyboy is creating tutorials, I hope he will cover the topic of backup and restore in great detail).

So although I will be using PhpMyAdmin to do monthly backups, I would like to do weekly or more often backups with the Cpanel tool. I'd like some confirmation from the Admins here that this tool works - maybe test it?

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Pico

patrickb

No, it will recreate the table structures as well, all you need is for the database to be in existence...

For the DB you want to backup, go into phpMyAdmin and select the DB, then go to the export tab.

Select all the tables you want exported on the left upper side. Make sure 'SQL' is marked. Under the 'Structure' tab, select all options. Under the 'Data' tab, select all options. Then select the 'Save as file' option and leave the template name at its default. Hit 'Go' and save it to your HD. This will take quite a while to do depending on the DB size. The exported version of the DB is usually at least 4 times larger than the actual DB itself.

To restore, go back into phpMyAdmin, and select the DB to restore to. Go to the 'SQL' tab and hit the browse button towards the bottom. Find the file on your HD, and then hit 'Go'. This will take even longer to do than the export, so sit back, grab a drink and relax.

That should about cover it. You can try testing it. Make a second database to restore to just to see how it works.

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Patrick

Warnings: The program(s) might crash unexpectedly or behave otherwise strangely. (But of course, so do many commercial programs on Windows.) --www.gimp.org

Panama

Patrickb, thanks for that tutorial on using PhpMyAdmin to do the backup, I wanted to be sure of the steps before I tried it.

One addition to those instructions - I have read that you shouldn't chose the compression option, because PMA can't read the compressed file. I suppose that means that you could DL the file compressed, restore it on your local drive, then upload it.

However, that is for a PhpMyAdmin backup. I would like to know the specifics for a backup of a Db with the Cpanel backup page.

First, is the backup only content, not structure (the backup I downloaded seems to be only content).

Second, has anyone succesfully used the Cpanel to download a Db and then restore?

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Pico