BigDump Alternative

Hangin' Around Joined: May 30, 2004 Posts: 46

Didn't know where to put this. Either here or in Scripts.

I ran across this database backup/restore script the other day called Snfoor. Version 3.4 is free to the public. They have a Club system just like (you know whose site). By joining the Club you are able to download the lastest version which is 3.5. This script is very fast and saves the backup on the server in .gz.

Key Features:

Quote:

The Script is just one file to backup, Restore, Drop tables and etc..
Secure and powerful..Snfoor tested to restore 650MB database and he restore it with no problem using the sessions tech. very light on your server, very small in size and very powerful

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registered · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:21 am

Captain_Computer, thank you for this. I'll have to give this a try!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:52 am

I've tried both v 3.4 and 3.5 and it appears the only change is the use of sessions in v 3.5.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:24 pm

I've tried this Snfoor thing this morning, version 3.4. It does not appear to me to be fully baked but maybe I'm just "read the instructions" impaired. I tried it on some local databases that I could afford to screw up and I did. I was able to successfully (it appears) dump one database. That's called "backup" in snfoor-eze. I guess that part is okay. But then when I tried to restore to another database nothing happened. You are supposed to be able to do that aren't you? It calls the "restore" -- a "dump". That's confusing to me but even getting past the language problems I can't get a restore to work.

Also, in the credits the author states that this thing is based on bigdump. I haven't tried bigdump myself but I might if that's more reliable or understandable. Unless Captain can provide some instructions ... thinking while I type again. Okay, yes, dumping to one file and restoring to a different table could be difficult and not work unless you edit the SQL that's generated. But I can't get the restore into the same tables to work even after I use the drop procedure to drop them. It just says it executed 11 lines and dies. I'm trying to use the dump file to restore thru Phpmyadmin as I type this.

Now: since a lot of people are likely to be dumping (or backing up) and perhaps needing to restore once 2.10 is out perhaps it would be useful to review what this is about at a basic level. You are getting ready to upgrade. You back your tables up with PHYmyadmin and you save them off to your local computer. Probably you should use the tar.gz option to reduce file size. If all goes well with the upgrade you are fine but the reason we backup is because sometimes s*** happens. So you decide to restore that nice little backup you made. You go into PHYmyadmin and find the backup file and tell it to execute it. It grinds away a little while and then you get a message that the file is too big to upload. Now what?

That's where you need something like bigdump or this snfoor, assuming it can be made to work. What I've turned to in the past is breaking the SQL version of the dumped file into chunks and importing them in pieces back up the PHPmyadmin but that can get to be hit or miss as well as taking large chunks of time.

I think it really would be helpful to the community if someone who knows how to do this stuff could post a simple step by step with examples recipe for backing up and restoring realistic size tables. Enough for me for today, as I've typed this whole thing phpmyadmin has been grinding in the background. I don't know if will restore my tables or not.

Theme Guru Joined: Nov 01, 2003 Posts: 1006

Bigdump works perfectly. Just use the latest version. I have restored gigantic databases with it. All that you need to do is load a folder through ftp. Add the bigdump.php file and the sql file. Then add the db info into the file just like you would for config.php. Go to it in your browser and it imports the db for you rather quickly. I have never tried this other one but if I have occassion to I will report back my findings.

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:16 pm

Thanks Jaded. I just discovered to my chagrin that my local (testing) database was totally fouled up because of Snofoor. Now, admittedly I may have done something wrong but the instructions for Snofoor, if you can even call them that, are less than clear. I would recommend that folks stick with bigdump for the time being.

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:30 pm

yeah, i've never had an issue with BigDump. Its just one of those things with me that I tend to stick with what has worked well for me in the past. Now that I hear others struggling with Snofoor, not need for me to try it...

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 6:15 pm

I just want to post this quickly in case it helps someone else with upgrading in the near future.

I went thru the rn2.10 upgrade process on my production site today. It's done but it was painful, mostly due to a stupid web host (Ipowerweb). Yes, I know to get off them, I just have to find time ... and I've usually been able to work around them.

Anyway back to this thread, I got bigdump working before I started the upgrade and I have daily backups on my host thru a cron job. I called the host this morning about cleaning out a "ghost" database that had been haunting me for some time, no tables but I couldn't delete it thru Phpmyadmin. Well I got off the phone after they said they didn't know how and my whole production database was gone. Well you know what to that.

So, what the heck, I have a backup and I'll use bigdump. Well here's the catch: IF YOU ARE ON AN IPOWERWEB SERVER and you have any size database (my dump is like 20 megs, not huge by any means and that's not compressed) even with bigdump you are going to run into the old max resources issue. I applied the max resources fix that's been posted here for config.php to the bigdump.php file (creating extra users and spreading the workload over them) but even with 3 users I would bomb out halfway thru. Finally I edited the 20 meg file to remove IP2country and split it into two parts and restored those separately after creating 9 random users to spread the workload over. That worked at the expense of a half day.

Oh and Ipowerweb sent me an email offering to restore my database for only $50. I could tilt at their windmill but I've wasted enough time on that.

Bottom line to this part: make sure you have a tested restore process that will work for your actual database size on your actual server. Bigdump is a very good program and very simple to operate but even it can't overcome something like Ipowerweb without help and planning on your part.