Can mysql_connect close before exec() finishes

[code green]

I am writing a script that will regularly update a database from a local server to an online server.
The backup file is created locally but the online database is only partially filled.
I am calling mysqldump.exe and mysql.exe with exec().
It works OK within the intranet but there seems to be a timeout problem online.
Is it because the connection is closing before mysql.exe has finished.
Will using mysql_pconnect resolve this?
Should I be using system() instead of exec()?
Will somebody help me?

[pbmods]

Heya, Code Green.

I can see needing to use mysqldump, but why do you need to call the CLI MySQL Client?

Try calling mysqldump, THEN opening your MySQL connection (since mysqldump opens its own connection).

[code green]

This is my plan with some code
The main database is on a local server. I require a copy of this on a remote server (but not all the tables) I have written a script that writes a backup sql file using mysqldump.exe running on the local. The script then calls mysql.exe (still local) to upload this sql file to the remote server.This is the exec command

exec(C://Progra~1/xampp/mysql/bin/mysql.exe -u username -h hostaddress -ppassword databasename< C://Progra~1/xampp/htdocs/path/to/above/file/filename.sql);

The php script continues after this line.
The remote database connects and starts to fill up. The script ends cleanly but the database is only partially filled.

[pbmods]

Ah. Now I see where you're going with this.

Can you schedule a batch file to run these commands instead? Or do you need PHP to process the output of mysqldump?

[code green]

I suppose a .bat could do this.
I was only using php to test for a connection first then capturing any error messages after.
I have been in discussion with my online provider and the Assistant Technical Manager sounded a little worried. This is part of his reply

Is there a particular reason you're trying to remotely source in a database? Sourcing in databases is very resource intensive. I honestly have not tried this before given the potential problems for broken/partial tables with sending that much data over at once

He goes onto to recommend FTP'ing the file in then running the file locally.
But automation was the main reason behind this projection.
To be honest, I am not sure how to automate a FTP process.