Backup MySQL databases, from web server files to a FTP server automatically

This is a simple backup solution for people who run their own web server and MySQL server on a dedicated box or VPS. Most dedicated hosting provider provides the backup service using NAS or FTP servers. These service providers will hook you to their redundant centralized storage array over private VLAN. Since I manage couple of boxes, here is my own automated solution. If you just want a shell script, go here (you just need to provided appropriate input and it will generate FTP backup script for you on fly).

Making incremental backups with tar

You can make tape backups. However, sometime tape is not an option. GNU tar allows you to make incremental backups with -g option. For example following command will make incremental backup of /var/www/html, /home, and /etc directories:
# tar -g /var/log/tar-incremental.log -zcvf /backup/today.tar.gz /var/www/html /home /etc

Where,

• -g: Create/list/extract new GNU-format incremental backup and store information to /var/log/tar-incremental.log file.

Making MySQL databases backup

mysqldump is a client program for dumping or backing up mysql databases, tables and data. For example following command displays the list of databases:
$ mysql -u root -h localhost -p -Bse 'show databases'

Output:

Enter password:
brutelog
cake
faqs
mysql
phpads
snews
test
tmp
van
wp

Now you can backup each database with mysqldump command:
$ mysqldump -u root -h localhost -pmypassword faqs | gzip -9 > faqs-db.sql.gz

A simple backup system plan

The main advantage of using FTP or NAS backup is a protection from data loss. You can use various protocols to backup data:

1. FTP
2. SSH
3. RSYNC
4. Other Commercial solutions

However, I am going to write about FTP backup solution here. The idea is as follows:

• Make full backup every Sunday night i.e. backup everything every Sunday
• Next backup only those files that has been modified since the full backup (incremental backup)
  This is a seven-day backup cycle.

Our sample setup

   Your-server     ===>       ftp/nas server
IP:202.54.1.10   ===>       208.111.2.5

Let us assume that your ftp details are as follows:

• FTP server IP: 208.111.2.5
• FTP Username: nixcraft
• FTP Password: somepassword
• FTP Directory: /home/nixcraft (or /)

You will store data as follows:
=> /home/nixcraft/full/mm-dd-yy/files - Full backup
=> /home/nixcraft/incremental/mm-dd-yy/files - Incremental backup

Automating tasks of backup with tar

Now you know how to backup files and mysql databases using tar and mysqldump commands respectively. It is time to write a shell script that will automate entire procedure.

1. First script will collect all data from both MySQL database server and from file system to temporary directory called /backup using tar command
2. Next, script will login to ftp server and create a directory structure as discussed above
3. Script will dump all files from /backup to ftp server
4. Script will remove temporary backup from /backup
5. Script will send you an email notification if ftp backups failed due to any reason.

You must have following command installed:

• ncftp ftp client
• mysqldump command
• GNU tar command

Here is the sample script:

#!/bin/sh
# System + MySQL backup script
# Full backup day - Sun (rest of the day do incremental backup)
# Copyright (c) 2005-2006 nixCraft
# This script is licensed under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above
# Automatically generated by http://bash.cyberciti.biz/backup/wizard-ftp-script.php
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
### System Setup ###
DIRS="/home /etc /var/www"
BACKUP=/tmp/backup.$$
NOW=$(date +"%d-%m-%Y")
INCFILE="/root/tar-inc-backup.dat"
DAY=$(date +"%a")
FULLBACKUP="Sun"
### MySQL Setup ###
MUSER="admin"
MPASS="mysqladminpassword"
MHOST="localhost"
MYSQL="$(which mysql)"
MYSQLDUMP="$(which mysqldump)"
GZIP="$(which gzip)"
### FTP server Setup ###
FTPD="/home/vivek/incremental"
FTPU="vivek"
FTPP="ftppassword"
FTPS="208.111.11.2"
NCFTP="$(which ncftpput)"
### Other stuff ###
EMAILID="admin@theos.in"
### Start Backup for file system ###
[ ! -d $BACKUP ] && mkdir -p $BACKUP || :
### See if we want to make a full backup ###
if [ "$DAY" == "$FULLBACKUP" ]; then
FTPD="/home/vivek/full"
FILE="fs-full-$NOW.tar.gz"
tar -zcvf $BACKUP/$FILE $DIRS
else
i=$(date +"%Hh%Mm%Ss")
FILE="fs-i-$NOW-$i.tar.gz"
tar -g $INCFILE -zcvf $BACKUP/$FILE $DIRS
fi
### Start MySQL Backup ###
# Get all databases name
DBS="$($MYSQL -u $MUSER -h $MHOST -p$MPASS -Bse 'show databases')"
for db in $DBS
do
FILE=$BACKUP/mysql-$db.$NOW-$(date +"%T").gz
$MYSQLDUMP -u $MUSER -h $MHOST -p$MPASS $db | $GZIP -9 > $FILE
done
### Dump backup using FTP ###
#Start FTP backup using ncftp
ncftp -u"$FTPU" -p"$FTPP" $FTPS<
mkdir $FTPD
mkdir $FTPD/$NOW
cd $FTPD/$NOW
lcd $BACKUP
mput *
quit
EOF
### Find out if ftp backup failed or not ###
if [ "$?" == "0" ]; then
rm -f $BACKUP/*
else
T=/tmp/backup.fail
echo "Date: $(date)">$T
echo "Hostname: $(hostname)" >>$T
echo "Backup failed" >>$T
mail -s "BACKUP FAILED" "$EMAILID" <$T rm -f $T fi

Setup a cron job

Just add a cron job as per your requirements:
13 0 * * * /home/admin/bin/ftpbackup.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

Generate FTP backup script

Since I setup many Linux boxes, here is my own FTP backup script generator. You just need to provided appropriate input and it will generate FTP backup script for you on fly.

Next time I will write more about this method.

Posted in: