I have a few small mysql databases on my system. I backup my whole system every week with a cpio backup to tape. Is a cpio backup good enough for mysql databases? If I restore the /var/lib/mysql directory structure, will i have full access again ? Do I need to stop the mysqld service before creating the backup ?
Running mysqldump on each tablespace (including the mysql tablespace) would be much cleaner and not require any shutdown of mysql. The backups of the /var/lib/mysql directory may or may not be consistant depending on whether there's any update activity at that point. (And mysql can delay updates so there may be update activity after there's noone connected for a short time.)
-- </chris>
There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. -- C.A.R. Hoare
