mysql backup help please

[Neil]

Hi,

I hope this question isn't too far off topic....I'm almost at my wits
end trying to figure this out.

I have a Mysql database and I wish to automate the backup of the
database because I don't wish to rely on the web host doing so. I am
using the "dbsender.php" script, which is written for this exact
purpose (available at hotscripts.com). If I execute the script via my
browser, the database is emailed to me in a 'gzip' format, which is
perfect.....the script works just great. However, when I set a cron
job to automate this task, I get an empty '.gz' file attached to the
email instead of a ".gz" file containing my database.

Seeing as the scipt works properly when executed via the browser, the
script is fine. The cron job does it's task on time, and the empty .gz
attachment even has the correct name to it so I'm sure the command
path is correct.....but the attached .gz file is empty.

What on earth could be wrong??? I have tried other scripts with
exactly the same result.

I'll past the code below in case some kind soul can shed some light on
this frustrating problem.

Many thanks for looking.
Neil

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
dbsender.php script below

#!/usr/local/bin/php
<?php
// configure your database variables below:
$dbhost = 'localhost'; // Server address of your MySQL Server
$dbuser = 'cookie_neil'; // Username to access MySQL database
$dbpass = 'airbourne'; // Password to access MySQL database
$dbname = 'cookie_shop'; // Database Name

// Optional Options You May Optionally Configure

$use_gzip = "yes"; // Set to No if you don't want the files sent in
..gz format
$remove_sql_file = "yes"; // Set this to yes if you want to remove the
..sql file after gzipping. Yes is recommended.
$remove_gzip_file = "no"; // Set this to yes if you want to delete the
gzip file also. I recommend leaving it to "no"

// Configure the path that this script resides on your server.

$savepath =
"/home/cookie/domains/mydomain.co.nz/public_html/dbsender"; // Full
path to this directory. Do not use trailing slash!

$send_email = "yes"; // Do you want this database backup sent to your
email? Fill out the next 2 lines
$to = "[e-mail]"; // Who to send the emails to
$from = "da******@mydomain.co.nz"; // Who should the emails be sent
from?

$senddate = date("j F Y");

$subject = "MySQL Database Backup - $senddate"; // Subject in the
email to be sent.
$message = "Your MySQL database has been backed up and is attached to
this email"; // Brief Message.
$use_ftp = "no"; // Do you want this database backup uploaded to an
ftp server? Fill out the next 4 lines
$ftp_server = "localhost"; // FTP hostname
$ftp_user_name = "ftp_username"; // FTP username
$ftp_user_pass = "ftp_password"; // FTP password
$ftp_path = "/"; // This is the path to upload on your ftp server!

// Do not Modify below this line! It will void your warranty!

$date = date("mdy-hia");
$filename = "$savepath/$dbname-$date.sql";
passthru("mysqldump --opt -h$dbhost -u$dbuser -p$dbpass
$dbname >$filename");

if($use_gzip=="yes"){
$zipline = "tar -czf ".$dbname."-".$date."_sql.tar.gz
$dbname-$date.sql";
shell_exec($zipline);
}
if($remove_sql_file=="yes"){
exec("rm -r -f $filename");
}

if($use_gzip=="yes"){
$filename2 =
"$savepath/".$dbname."-".$date."_sql.tar.gz";
} else {
$filename2 = "$savepath/$dbname-$date.sql";
}
if($send_email == "yes" ){
$fileatt_type = filetype($filename2);
$fileatt_name = "".$dbname."-".$date."_sql.tar.gz";

$headers = "From: $from";

// Read the file to be attached ('rb' = read binary)
$file = fopen($filename2,'rb');
$data = fread($file,filesize($filename2));
fclose($file);

// Generate a boundary string
$semi_rand = md5(time());
$mime_boundary =
"==Multipart_Boundary_x{$semi_rand}x";

// Add the headers for a file attachment
$headers .= "\nMIME-Version: 1.0\n" ."Content-Type:
multipart/mixed;\n" ." boundary=\"{$mime_boundary}\"";

// Add a multipart boundary above the plain message
$message = "This is a multi-part message in MIME
format.\n\n" ."--{$mime_boundary}\n" ."Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=\"iso-8859-1\"\n" ."Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit\n\n" .
$message . "\n\n";

// Base64 encode the file data
$data = chunk_split(base64_encode($data));

// Add file attachment to the message
$message .= "--{$mime_boundary}\n" ."Content-Type:
{$fileatt_type};\n" ." name=\"{$fileatt_name}\"\n"
.."Content-Disposition: attachment;\n" ."
filename=\"{$fileatt_name}\"\n" ."Content-Transfer-Encoding:
base64\n\n" .
$data . "\n\n" ."--{$mime_boundary}--\n";

// Send the message
$ok = @mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);
if ($ok) {
echo "<h4><center>Database backup created and
sent! File name $filename2</center></h4>";
} else {
echo "<h4><center>Mail could not be sent.
Sorry!</center></h4>";
}
}

if($use_ftp == "yes"){
$ftpconnect = "ncftpput -u $ftp_user_name -p
$ftp_user_pass -d debsender_ftplog.log -e dbsender_ftplog2.log -a -E
-V $ftp_server $ftp_path $filename2";
shell_exec($ftpconnect);
echo "<h4><center>$filename2 Was created and uploaded
to your FTP server!</center></h4>";

}

if($remove_gzip_file=="yes"){
exec("rm -r -f $filename2");
}

?>

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cron Command Path below

/home/cookie/domains/mydomain.co.nz/public_html/dbsender/dbsender.php

[Eric Bohlman]

Neil <[e-mail]> wrote in
news:2a********************************@4ax.com:

I have a Mysql database and I wish to automate the backup of the
database because I don't wish to rely on the web host doing so. I am
using the "dbsender.php" script, which is written for this exact
purpose (available at hotscripts.com). If I execute the script via my
browser, the database is emailed to me in a 'gzip' format, which is
perfect.....the script works just great. However, when I set a cron
job to automate this task, I get an empty '.gz' file attached to the
email instead of a ".gz" file containing my database.

When a cron job fails to do something that works fine when you do it
yourself, the problem is usually that the something is making assumptions
about the current working directory or the environment or permissions.
After taking a cursory look at your code, I'm going to guess that cron
isn't setting the current working directory to your own directory, so your
script will have to do that itself.

[Neil]

On 25 Jan 2004 06:49:43 GMT, Eric Bohlman <eb******@earthlink.net>
wrote:

When a cron job fails to do something that works fine when you do it
yourself, the problem is usually that the something is making assumptions
about the current working directory or the environment or permissions.
After taking a cursory look at your code, I'm going to guess that cron
isn't setting the current working directory to your own directory, so your
script will have to do that itself.

Thanks for the reply Eric.

I'm pretty certain that I have the permissions set correctly.....I
have even gone to chmod777 out of despiration, but still no luck. I
have also done a (php info) check on the server, and I have entered
the Command path as indicated in the server settings. I'm doing this
for a friend and the host he has chosen can't/won't help, so I'm
floundering a bit here as ColdFusion is really my 'thing' although I
have a pretty reasonable understanding of php.

The result I have so far....ie...the empty gz file, is the closest I
have come to sorting this out, but obviously, there's no cigar yet!!

Cheers,
Neil

[Tim Van Wassenhove]

On 2004-01-25, Neil <[e-mail]> wrote:

Seeing as the scipt works properly when executed via the browser, the
script is fine. The cron job does it's task on time, and the empty .gz
attachment even has the correct name to it so I'm sure the command
path is correct.....but the attached .gz file is empty. Cron Command Path below
/home/cookie/domains/mydomain.co.nz/public_html/dbsender/dbsender.php

As you say it is working when you retrieve run the script from your
webbrowser, you could consider adding an entry to your crontab as:

wget http://mydomain/dbsender/dbsender.php

--
http://home.mysth.be/~timvw

[Neil]

On 25 Jan 2004 07:19:44 GMT, Tim Van Wassenhove <eu**@pi.be> wrote:

As you say it is working when you retrieve run the script from your
webbrowser, you could consider adding an entry to your crontab as:

wget http://mydomain/dbsender/dbsender.php

Thank you Tim, that works perfectly and now cron is executing my
script beautifully.

I didn't realise that wget could be used in this way, and I didn't
know that it was installed on the Apache server. Is this a default
part of the Apache Server installation?

This is interesting so I'll read what I can find on line.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Neil