Backups and Recovery - Learning MySQL - page 363

`date +"%Y.%m.%d.%H.%M"`
as part of the result filename so that the filename includes a timestamp. The
resulting compressed SQL dump file will be given a name like
2006.08.16.06.08.MySQL_Backup.sql.gz ;
Check that your changes have been saved by typing crontab -l (the "l" stands for list).
It's also useful to first test the command yourself from the shell prompt. When entering
the command in the crontab file, use a time that's near so that you can monitor that
things are working as you expect. There are few things more depressing than finding
that your regular backups weren't being done properly, and that you can't recover your
lost data. You can edit the file again later and set the regular backup times you actually
require.
Any output messages from the automatic execution are generally emailed to the cron
tab owner; you can specify a different address by defining the MAILTO variable at the top
of your crontab file:
MAILTO= your_email_address
Windows XP
Under Windows XP, you can add a scheduled task by selecting Scheduled Tasks by
opening the Windows Control Panel, selecting the “Performance and Maintenance”
entry, and choosing Scheduled Tasks. If you have Classic View enabled, you can choose
Scheduled Tasks directly from the Windows Control Panel. Select Add Scheduled Task,
browse to the MySQL bin directory, and select mysqldump.exe . Select how frequently
you want to run this program; at the end of the configuration process, select the check-
box for “Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish,” and then click
the Finish button. In the Run tab, type in the full command below. When prompted
to specify your password, enter your Windows password. Note that scheduled tasks
don't run if you don't have a password set for your Windows account:
"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin\mysqldump.exe" \
--user=root \
--password= the_mysql_root_password \
--result-file= C:\outputfile.sql \
database_name
Under Windows Vista, take the following steps. Open the Windows Control Panel,
and select the “System and Maintenance” entry, and then select the Administrative
Tools. If you have Classic View enabled, choose Administrative Tools directly from the
Control Panel. From the Administrative Tools, choose the Task Scheduler entry. Win-
dows may prompt you for authorization—click Continue.
From the Task Schedule window, choose the Create Task entry from the Actions menu
on the right. A dialog box will open with several tabs at the top. On the first tab (Gen-
eral), enter a name for the new task—for example, “MySQL daily dumps.”